OETON      !• 


h£C.  ju.i  1883 


BV   1424    .C52    1882 

Clark,  Francis  E.  1851-1927 

The  children  and  the  church 


The  Children  and  the  Church, 


THE   YOUNG   PEOPLE'S 


SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR, 


MEANS  OF  BRINGING  THEM  TOGETHER. 


F.    E.  'CLARK, 

Pastor  of  the  IVilliston  Church,   Portland,  Me. ; 
Author  of '■' Our    Vacations''^  and  "Life  of  William  E.  Harward." 


With  an  Introduction  by 

C.  L.  GOODELL,  D.  D., 

Pastor  of  the  Pilgrim  Church,  St.  Louist  Mo. 


BOSTON: 

CONGREGATIONAL  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  AND  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY, 


BEACON     STREET. 


Copyright,  1882, 
BY   CONGREGATIONAL  PUBLISHING   SOCIETY. 


Stereotyped  and  printed 

BY   ALFRED   MUDGE    AND   SON,    BOSTON. 


TO   THE   MANY   MEMBERS 


WHO    HAVE 

SO    OFTEN    LIGHTENED    THEIR    PASTOR'S    LABORS, 

AfD 

CHEERED   THEIR   PASTOR's   HEART, 

THIS    BOOK 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED. 


PREFATORY. 


Some  time  ago  a  chance  article  published  in  the  Con- 
gregationalist^  entitled  "  How  One  Church  looks  after  its 
Young  People,"  describing  the  methods  of  the  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  was  received  with  considerable  favor, 
and  was  republished  in  various  papers  in  this  country  and 
abroad.  This  article  unexpectedly  brought  to  the  author 
many  letters  asking  for  further  particulars.  To  these  he 
responded  as  fully  as  his  time  would  permit,  while  he  tried 
to  reply  to  them  at  greater  length  by  other  articles  in 
various  religious  newspapers.  The  correspondence,  how- 
ever, soon  grew  quite  beyond  his  ability  to  furnish  careful 
replies,  and  this  opened  up  the  whole  question  of  Christian 
nurture  as  a  practical  matter.  It  became  evident  that  there 
was,  among  pastors  and  other  Christian  workers,  a  wide- 
spread desire  for  any  light,  however  feeble,  which  might  be 
shed  on  the  relation  of  children  to  the  church.  This  little 
book  is  an  attempt  to  answer  the  questions  thus  raised,  and 
to  solve  the  problems  suggested,  by  stating,  as  clearly  as 
possible,  the  needs  and  difficulties  in  the  way  of  Christian 
nurture,  and  by  presenting  a  practical  plan  to  accomplish 
this  end  which  in  many  cases  has  proved  successful.  In 
the  sixth   chapter,  many  questions  which  have  been  ad- 


VI  PREFATORY. 

dressed  to  the  author  have  been  considered  in  a  more 
thorough  manner  than  could  be  done  in  private  corre- 
spondence, and  it  is  hoped  that  these  answers  may  be  of 
some  service  to  many  others  who  have  not  written  him 
upon  the  subject.  The  Young  People's  Society  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  is  in  no  sense  a  sectarian  organization. 
One  of  the  first  societies  established,  after  the  first  article 
before  alluded  to  appeared,  was  in  a  large  Baptist  church 
in  Connecticut.  Many  have  been  started  in  Methodist, 
Free  Baptist,  Baptist,  and  Presbyterian  as  well  as  Congre- 
gational churches.  It  is  hoped  that  no  denominational 
lines  will  interfere  with  this  method  of  bringing  children 
and  young  people  into  the  service.  The  author  wishes  to 
acknowledge  his  indebtedness  to  Eder^heim's  "  Social  Cus- 
toms of  the  Jews  in  the  Time  of  Christ,"  to  the  "  Bible 
Educator,"  to  Dr.  Bushnell's  "  Christian  Nurture,"  to  Dr. 
Cuyler  for  the  earliest  suggestion  of  this  method  of  reach- 
ing the  young,  and  to  many  of  his  brethren  for  their 
cordial  sympathy  and  helpful  counsel. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

CHILD  LIFE  IN  THE  BIBLE.  Page 

Jewish  Customs  respecting  Child  Life.  —  Different  Names  applied 
to  Children.  —  The  Naturalness  of  Child  Life  in  the  Bible. 

—  Bible  Child  Life  a  Religious  Life.  —  The   Religious  Life 

of  the  Child  a  Growth.  —  A  Word  to  Parents i 

CHAPTER   IL 

IS  THERE  A  PLACE  IN  THE  CHURCH   FOR  CHILDREN? 
Jerusalem y^^//  of  Boys  and  Girls  ^layin^-.  —  A  Place  for  Children 
in  the  Church.  —  Indicated  by  the  Nature  of  Childhood. — 
By  the  Nature  of  Conversion.  —  By  the  Nature  of  the  Church. 

—  The  Church  of  the  Future 15 

CHAPTER    IIL 

CHURCH  MEMBERSHIP  FOR  CHILDREN. 

The  Need  of  it.  —  Shown  by  the  Sluggish,  Depleted  State  of  our 
Churches.  —  The  Difficulty  of  Impressing  with  Religious 
Truth  Persons  of  Mature  Years.  —  Obstacles.  —  Opposition 
and  Indifference  of  Parents,  Teachers,  and  Churches.  —  "I 
am  afraid  my  Child  will  not  Hold  Out." — Unreasonable 
Expectations.  —  Encouragement.  —  Experience  of  Eminent 
Divines 27 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S   SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR. 

Its  Origin.  —  Its  Constitution.  —  Its  Objects:  To  Promote  Con- 
stant Confession  of  Christ  and  Earnest  Christian  Endeavor. 

—  Its  Spirit :  The  Spirit  of  Aggressive,  Spiritual,  Evangel- 
ical Christianity. —  Its  Rules  :  Are  they  too  Strict .?      ...       38 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V.  Page 

THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR. 

How  it  fits  Children  for  Church  Membership.  —  A  Half-Way 
House  to  the  Church.  —  A  Training  School  within  the 
Church.  —  A  Watch-Tower  for  the  Church 52 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  YOUNG   PEOPLE'S   SOCIETY   OF   CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR. 

Questions  Answered.  —  How  can  the  Society  be  Started.?  — 
What  Age  Limit  shall  be  Imposed  ? —  Is  this  Plan  fitted  for 
Small,  Weak  Churches  ?  —  What  does  "Absolute  Necessity  " 
mean  ?  —  How  should  an  Experience  Meeting  be  conducted  ? 

—  Why  should  the  Roll  be  called  at  its  Close  ?  —  What  other 
Work  may  be  attempted.  —  How  shall  the  Indifferent  be 
dealt  with?      Suggestions.  —  Care  in  admitting  Members. 

—  Strict  Adherence  to  the  Rules.  —  Constant  Vigilance 
needed.  —  The  Pastor's  Place  in  this  Work  an  Essential 
Place.  Objections  Answered.  —  That  the  Society  will 
detract  from  the  Pre-eminence  of  the  Church.  —  That  it  will 
interfere  with  the  Church  Prayer  Meeting.  —  That  it  will 
foster  a  Brazen,  Wordy  Type  of  Piety 63 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR. 

Further  Misapprehensions  corrected.  — The  Object  not  only  to 
awaken,  but  to  keep  awake.  —  Not  to  make  Children  Prom- 
inent, but  to  make  them  Useful.  —  Further  Questions  an- 
swered.—  "  How  may  Interest  in  Religious  Matters  be  first 
aroused?"  — The  Sunday-School  Prayer  Meeting.  — A  Cat- 
echetical Class.  —  This  Society  not  a  Labor-Saving  Contriv- 
ance. —  A  Flexible  Organization.  —  What  has  been  done.  — 
What  may  be  done 78 


CONTENTS.  IX 


APPENDIX.  Pack 
Children  and  Public  Worship.  —  The  Veneration  of  the  Ancient 
Jews  for  their  Temple.  —  The  Statistics  about  Church-Going. 
—  Why  are  not  the  Children  in  the  Pews  ?  —  Testimony  of 
Representative  Christian  Men  of  Portland  concerning  early 
Church-Going.  —  What  this  Testimony  teaches.  —  To  win 
Boys  and  Girls  to  Public  Worship.  First,  Understand  them. 
Second,  Be  manly.  Third,  Present  the  Youth's  Side  of  Truth. 
Fourth,  Give  a  new  Bent  to  much  of  the  Home  Life. 
Fifth,  Modify  many  prevailing  Theories  regarding  the  Con- 
version of  Children.  Sixth,  Continue  the  Revision  of  much 
Sunday-School  Effort.  Sevettth,  Appreciate  the  joyous  Hope- 
fulness of  a  Church  full  of  Children 91 


'\ 


'V 

- "  1  ' 

INTRODUCTION. 

Here  is  a  good  thing  for  the  church  of  Christ,  for  the 
Christian  home,  and  for  all  that  have  the  care  of  the 
young.  You  will  not  lay  it  aside  till  you  have  gathered  the 
honey. 

The  plan  is  a  fresh  seed,  dropped  into  the  new  soil  of 
youth,  and  promises  much.  In  the  fields  of  the  young 
there  is  no  fallow  ground ;  everything  grows  in  the  spring- 
time, wheat  and  tares. 

This  book  is  born  of  an  earnest  effort  to  keep  the  young 
within  reach  of  direct  Christian  influence,  bringing  them  to 
Christ,  and  into  His  fold ;  rearing  them,  not  for  His  service, 
but  in  it,  leaving  no  time  nor  place  for  "  sowing  wild  oats." 

The  guides  of  youth  have  made  provision  for  these 
oats  much  too  long. 

The  book  is  neither  a  plea  for  Christian  nurture  without 
conversion,  nor  for  conversion  without  nurture,  —  looking 
toward  the  work  outside  the  church  oi  apart  from  it,  — but 
for  planting  and  training  the  young  in  the  household  of 
faith  in  a  living,  practical  way. 

The  child  problem  is  one  of  the  most  pressing  at  this 
hour.  Mammon  has  no  happy  old  people,  however  much 
delight  he  may  promise  the  boys  and  girls  at  the  start. 
They  follow,  to  be  deceived  and  destroyed.  It  is  very  hard 
for  God  to  get  a  hearing  in  any  human  heart,  yet  it  is 
easier  to  reach  the  child  heart  than  any  other.  Lose  not 
the  hour  of  childhood. 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

The  consequences  of  sin  in  this  world,  and  in  every 
world,  are  fearful.  The  sooner  the  child  life  is  cleansed, 
through  the  blood  of  the  Crucified  One,  and  the  new  life 
from  above  is  begun,  the  better  every  way;  God  has  no 
sorrow  so  great  as  seeing  a  soul  in  sin.  He  comes  with 
His  deliverance  now,  if  we  will  open  to  Him.  He  is  of  God 
who  heareth  the  words  of  God. 

How  can  the  young  be  made  to  see  the  vast  advantages 
that  surround  them,  and  be  led  to  improve  their  opportu- 
nities as  they  ought  ? 

No  question  comes  to  parents  of  this  generation  with 
deeper  solicitude  than  this,  —  unlimited  stores  of  knowl- 
edge on  every  side,  privileges  and  blessings  for  mind  and 
heart  without  end,  and  often  so  little  appetite  on  the  part 
of  the  children  for  them.  Parents  lead  their  young  to  the 
fountains  of  living  water ;  everything  is  made  beautiful  and 
attractive,  and  still  they  do  not  care  to  drink.  How  shall 
they  be  induced  to  ?  What  can  be  done  if  there  is  no 
hunger  for  life's  true  knowledge,  no  thirst  for  God's  word 
and  service  ? 

Blessings  on  him  who  shall  impart  the  teaching  skill, 
and  give  the  relish  for  divine  things,  and  know  how  to  feed 
the  lambs. 

Every  boy  has  his  time  to  awake  and  grow  to  a  wise, 
Christian  manhood;  every  girl  her  opportunity  to  rise 
and  put  on  her  garments  of  Christian  beauty,  and  begin 
her  ministry  of  love  and  helpfulness.  This  time  gone 
unimproved,  life's  best  hour  is  passed.  This  era  in  child 
life  comes  and  goes  as  the  clover  blossoms,  and  then  heat 
and  drought  and  waste.  The  summer  is  ended.  The 
bright,  sweet  song  of  the  Gospel  has  been  sung  to  the  soul ; 
all  that  follow  are  broken  lays.  The  young  need  to  be 
taken  in  this  early  bloom,  set  into  the  life  of  God,  that 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

they  may  be  enclosed  in  His  gardens,  and  kept  fragrant 
and  fresh  forever.  The  sun  puts  its  finger  on  the  bud  of 
a  tender  plant  and  it  flowers,  so  let  Christ  lay  His  hand  on 
the  plants  in  the  home. 

"  In  the  kingdom  of  Thy  grace 
Grant  a  little  child  a  place." 

The  children  must  have  their  portion  at  home  and  in 
the  Lord's  house.  It  must  be  constant  and  wholesome 
and  "convenient"  for  them.  "If  we  would  have  better 
sheep,  we  must  take  better  care  of  the  lambs  "  ;  we  must 
make  a  place  for  them  in  confession  of  Christ  and  service, 
in  worship  and  work,  in  giving  and  doing.  Let  the  Chris- 
tian duties  all  begin  in  childhood,  when  faith  and  love  be- 
gin. The  young  repay  many  fold  for  all  the  thought  and 
care  bestowed  upon  them  by  the  church.  It  is  the  divine 
order  and  method,  old  and  young  moving  together  along 
the  homeward  way.  It  helps  to  keep  the  parental  heart 
and  hearthstone  warm.  The  children  gathered  into  the 
worship  make  the  church  like  a  Christian  service,  glad 
with  song  and  promise  and  youthful  joy  all  the  year  round. 

And  why  should  it  not  be  so  ? 

When  the  great  Shepherd  comes  to  draw  water  for  His 
flock  on  the  Lord's  day,  how  good  it  is  to  find  all  the  fold 
gathered  and  ready,  sheep  and  lambs  alike.  The  Lord's 
ministry  is  to  them  both,  in  invitation  and  blessing.  He 
carries  every  kind  of  food  in  the  same  hand. 

The  old  are  twice  blessed  in  the  blessing  on  the  young. 
Many  a  little  girl  is  a  Christian  at  four  years  of  age.  Many 
a  boy  at  seven;  some  earlier.  "  Feed  my  lambs,"  says  the 
Master.  Arrange  to  do  it  by  system  and  in  faith  ;  gather 
them  in,  carry  the  weak  ones.  Let  the  truth  be  unsealed 
and  applied  to  all  their  needs.     In  no  other  way  can  so 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

effective  and  valuable  Christian  workers  be  made.  All 
their  faculties,  taken  early,  will  be  limbered  and  made  flexi- 
ble and  deft  in  their  Lord's  use.  ^ 

Do  not  let  us  of  this  age  stumble  any  longer  over  these 
great  and  self-evident  truths.  Every  work  has  its  special 
wisdom  by  which  it  is  best  dgne.  The  secret  of  success  in 
winning  the  world  for  Christ  and  building  the  church  of 
God  is  in  gaining  and  saving  the  children.  That  done, 
all  the  rest  comes  as  a  consequence ;  for  the  world's  man- 
hood is  secure  when  we  have  gained  its  childhood. 

The  state  of  the  heart  toward  God  determines  one's 
moral  condition.  That  state  may  be  made  right  in  child- 
hood easier  than  at  any  other  time  thereafter.  If  the 
heart  should  with  difficulty  be  brought  to  God  later,  the 
aftermath  of  the  autumn  Christian  is  not  like  the  abound- 
ing green  of  the  early  summer  time. 

Why  should  Christian  parents  wait,  before  they  strive  to 
make  their  children  Christians,  till  there  has  been  a  funeral 
among  the  group  of  little  ones  ?  Why  should  the  pastor's 
first  prayer  in  the  home  be  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick  ? 

The  method  set  forth  in  this  volume  is  no  longer  an 
experiment.  It  has  been  very  successfully  tried  by  the 
author,  and  by  many  others,  who,  adopting  the  suggestions 
of  the  author,  are  happy  to  attest  their  great  practical 
value. 

The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  brought  from  Port- 
land to  St  Louis  without  injury,  is  one  of  the  busiest  bees 
in  the  Pilgrim  hive.  It  brings  in  honey  and  comb,  and 
finds  many  wayside  flowers  that  had  been  overlooked. 
It  comes  in  every  day  rich  with  golden  power.  It  is  one 
of  the  special  helps  to  the  pastor.  It  is  wings  for  him, 
and  flies  all  over  the  city. 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

This  work  is  not  intended  to  be  a  mere  sentiment  or 
theory  thrown  out,  but  a  working  plan  for  organization  and 
use  in  every  church  where  it  shall  find  favor,  till  it  gives 
place  to  something  better. 

C.  L.  GOODELL. 

St,  Louis,  November,  1882. 


THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER     I. 

CHILD    LIFE    IN    THE    BIBLE. 

Jewish  Customs  respecting  Cliild  Life.  —  Different  Names  ap- 
plied to  Children.  —  The  Naturalness  of  Child  Life  in  the 
Bible.  —  Bible  Child  Life  a  Religious  Life.  —  The  Religious 
Life  of  the  Child  a  Growth.  —  A  Word  to  Parents. 

In  considering  the  relation  of  children  to  the 
church,  and  in  attempting  to  devise  measures  for 
bringing  young  people  into  closer  relationship  and 
fellowship  with  the  church,  it  is  wise  for  us  to  con- 
sider first  of  all  the  Bible  position  in  regard  to  the 
religious  nurture  of  children.  This  is  not  a  difficult 
task,  for  the  Scriptures  leave  no  doubt  in  the  minds 
of  most  readers  in  regard  to  the  supreme  importance 
they  attach  to  the  early  and  careful  religious  training 
of  the  young.  The  Bible  treats  child  life  as  it  does 
every  other  subject,  in  accordance  with  the  customs 
in  vogue  at  the  time  it  was  written  ;  and  from  its  gen- 
eral  tenor,  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  it 
approves  and  supports  these  existing  customs.  Thus, 
in  order  fitly  to  appreciate  the  child  life  of  the  Bible, 
we  must  inquire  how  children  were  regarded,  what  was 


2  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

their  education,  and  how  much  attention  was  paid  to 
them  by  the  Jews,  the  people  among  whom  the  Bible 
was  written.     When  we  turn  to  this  subject  we  are 
surprised  to  find  how  large  is  its  literature.     The  very- 
number   and  variety  and  minuteness  of  the  names 
for  "child"  show  the  importance  of  child  life,  and 
the  close  scrutiny  with  which  it  was  watched.     There 
were  no  less  than  nine  of  these  names,  denoting  the 
different  stages  of  the  child's  history.     Besides  the 
general  names  for  son  or  daughter,  there  was  one  that 
meant  **the  newly  born"  child,  another  that  meant 
**the  suckling,"  another   still    that    referred  to  the 
time  just  before  weaning,  and  a  fourth  that   meant 
the  weaned  child.     When  he  becomes  a  little  older 
and  begins  to  go  alone  with  short  and  tottering  steps, 
he  is  called  tapJi,  or  ''the  quickly  stepping  one,"  — 
or  "  the  little  trotter,"  as  we  might  phrase  it.     When 
he  becomes  still  older,  and  is  able  to  help  his  par- 
ents, he  is  called  eleniy  or  "  the  strong."     When  able  to 
defend  and  take  care  of  himself,  he  is  naar,  or  "  free  "  ; 
and  when  he  has  attained  his  majority  and  is  fit  for 
military  service,  then    he  is  bachiir^    or  "matured," 
—  "the  ripe  one."     W^hat  a  watchful  eye  do  all  these 
names  indicate  !     By  following  them  along  we  can 
almost  see  the  development  and  growth  of  the  Jew- 
ish youth  and  maiden.     Immediately  after  the  birth 
of    the  child  it  was  washed,  rubbed   with  salt,  and 
wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes,  and  the  announcement 
of  its  birth  was  hailed  with  joy,  especially  if  it  was  a 
son.     When  the  boy  was  eight   days  old  he  received 
his  name,  and  the  rite  of  circumcision  was  performed. 


CHILD    LIFE    IN   THE    BIBLE.  3 

Twenty-two  days  after  this  his  father  redeemed  him 
by  giving  to  the  priest  thirty  shekels  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, thus  acknowledging  in  a  most  forcible  way 
that  he  belonged  to  the  Lord  who  gave  him.  The 
ceremony  of  redemption  was  performed  in  this  way  : 
The  parents  of  the  month-old  child  made  a  feast  for 
their  friends,  and  invited  a  priest,  who  must  be  a  lin- 
eal descendant  of  Aaron.  Having  offered  grace  and 
some  introductory  prayers,  the  priest  looks  at  the 
child  and  at  the  price  of  redemption,  and  asks  the 
father  which  he  would  prefer,  the  money  or  the  child. 
Upon  the  father's  reply  that  he  would  rather  pay  the 
price  of  redemption,  the  priest  takes  the  money  and 
swings  it  round  the  infant's  head,  saying,  "  This  is 
for  the  first-born ;  this  is  in  lieu  of  it  ;  this  redeems 
it.  And  let  this  son  be  spared  for  life,  for  the  law  of 
God,  and  for  the  fear  of  heaven."  The  priest  then 
lays  his  hand  upon  the  child's  head  and  blesses 
him,  and  the  rite  is  over.  Does  not  this  custom,  as 
some  one  *  has  remarked,  bring  to  us  with  new 
force  the  Apostle  Peter's  words,  "  Ye  know  that 
ye  were  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things,  as 
with  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ,  as  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot  "  .? 
When  the  child  was  weaned  the  event  was  cele- 
brated by  a  feast  given  by  the  parents  to  their 
friends,  and  when  he  had  become  the  **  quickly  step- 
ping"  little  one  he  was  dressed  in  the  fringed  or 


*  Rev.  Dr.  Ginsburg,  from  whose  writings  many  of  these  facts,  con- 
cerning the  upbringing  of  Jewish  children,  have  been  obtained. 


4  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

tasselled  garment  :  and  now  his  religious  educa- 
tion began,  for  he  was  taught  that  the  word  which 
stood  for  this  tasselled  garment  was  the  Hebrew 
numeral  for  six  hundred,  and  that  this  six  hundred, 
with  the  eight  threads  and  five  knots  that  composed 
the  tassels,  made  up  six  hundred  and  thirteen,  the 
number  of  precepts  in  the  law;  and  hence  the  tas- 
selled garment  in  which  the  little  boy  was  arrayed 
was  a  symbol  to  him  of  the  perfect  law.  During  the 
earliest  period  of  the  child's  life  the  mother  had  his 
training  soiely  in  her  hands  ;  but  when  the  boy  be- 
came a  little  older  the  father  undertook  his  religious 
teaching,  while  the  mother  was  responsible  for  the 
girls  until  they  were  married. 

At  the  age  of  five  the  boy  began  to  learn  the  Bible, 
and  at  the  age  of  ten  the  collection  of  Jewish  tradi- 
tions. The  parents  were  the  teachers,  and  it  is  a  sin- 
gular fact  that  we  read  of  no  schools  in  the  Bible 
until  after  the  Babylonish  captivity.  The  reason  for 
this  is  plain  Before  this  there  was  no  need  of 
them,  for  during  a  sixth  part  of  a  Jew's  time,  labor 
was  prohibited  by  Sabbaths  and  sacred  feasts,  and 
this  time  the  parents  occupied  in  teaching  their  chil- 
dren. But  when  the  Jewish  father  came  to  resemble 
the  modern  Christian  father,  so  much  wrapped  up  in 
his  business  that  he  had  no  time  to  teach  his  chil- 
dren, then  schools  were  established,  but  under  the 
strictest  regulations.  They  must  not  be  in  a  crowded 
or  unwholesome  part  of  the  town  ;  they  must  not  be 
near  a  river  that  was  crossed  by  an  unsafe  bridge  ; 
no  teacher  could  have  more  than  twenty-five  pupils 


CHILD    LIFE    IN    THE    BIBLE.  5 

under  his  charge ;  and  the  parents  always  took  care 
that  their  children  were  in  the  class  at  the  proper 
time.  In  these  schools,  too,  the  greatest  attention 
was  paid  to  the  manners  of  the  children.  They  must 
salute  every  one  they  met  on  the  street,  and  not  to 
respond  to  a  salutation  was  considered  as  bad  as  com- 
mitting a  robbery.  An  ordinary  man  was  greeted 
with  the  words,  "  Peace  be  with  thee  ! "  a  teacher, 
"Peace  be  with  thee,  my  teacher  and  my  master "> 
and  a  king,  "Peace  be  with  thee,  my  king,  peace." 
Compare  this  polite  greeting  with  the  impertinent 
stare  or  the  saucy  salutation  of  many  a  modern 
school-boy. 

We  have  dwelt  somewhat  at  length  on  these  Jewish 
customs  in  the  upbringing  of  children,  for  more  than 
anything  else  do  they  throw  light  upon  the  child  life 
of  the  Bible.  Ln  fact,  the  child  life  of  the  Jews  is 
the  child  life  approved  and  moulded  by  the  Bible. 
The  same  rites  that  we  have  described  were  per- 
formed for  Samuel  and  Saul  and  David.  In  this 
same  fringed  garment  was  the  little  Solomon  clothed, 
and  the  infant  Isaiah  and  Daniel.  These  same  pre- 
cepts were  taught  in  this  way  to  Paul  and  Peter  and 
John  and  James.  These  same  salutations  dropped 
from  the  lips  of  Timothy,  so  carefully  trained.  Yes, 
and  these  same  blessings  were  pronounced  over  the 
unconscious  head  of  the  infant  Jesus.  In  the  same 
garment  was  He  clothed.  He  was  taught  this  same 
rule  concerning  the  knots  and  fringes,  and  in  sweet, 
boyish  accents,  we  may  believe,  there  fell  from  His 
lips,  too,  the  quaint  greeting,  "Peace  be  with  thee, 


6  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

my  teacher  and  master,  peace."  Surely  anything 
that  throws  light  upon  or  is  glorified  by  His  blessed 
life  is  of  supreme  interest  to  us.  We  have  a  few- 
examples  of  child  life  recorded  in  the  Bible.  Some- 
thing is  told  us  of  Joseph  as  a  boy.  Samuel's  early 
days  are  dwelt  upon.  Allusions  are  made  to  the 
infancy  of  Josiah  and  a  few  of  the  kings  of  Judah ; 
and  the  door  of  that  carpenter's  house  in  Naza- 
reth is  occasionally  left  ajar,  that  we  may  get  brief 
glimpses  of  the  blessed  child  life  of  Jesus.  From 
these  few  passages,  as  well  as  from  what  we  know 
of  the  customs  of  the  times,  we  learn  in  the  first 
place  that  the  child  life  of  Bible  charactefs  and 
Bible  days  was  natural  and  sensible.  The  goody,  pre- 
cocious, unearthly  children,  who  are  always  saying 
such  wonderful  things,  and  never  giving  any  evi- 
dence of  having  inherited  the  weaknesses  of  Adam's 
race,  and  who  always  used  to  die  before  they  ad- 
vanced beyond  this  stage  of  pious  and  precocious 
reflection,  do  not  exist  in  the  Bible.  The  children 
of  the  Bible  are  pre-eminently  childlike.  There 
is  nothing  about  them  which  leads  us  to  believe 
that  to  be  ''saintly  towards  the  heavens  is  to  be 
sickly  towards  the  earth."  While  they  are  children, 
they  speak  as  children,  they  understand  as  children, 
they  think  as  children ;  it  is  not  until  they  become 
men  that  they  put  away  childish  things.  A  study 
of  their  lives  gives  us  the  impression  that  it  is  just 
as  unnatural  and  unwholesome  for  a  child  to  act  like 
a  man  as  for  a  man  to  act  like  a  child.  Indeed,  it  was 
part  of  the  educational  code  of  the  Jews  that  the 


CHILD    LIFE    IN    THE    BIBLE.  7 

child  was  not  to  be  forced.  One  of  their  sententious 
maxims  was,  "  If  you  set  your  child  to  regular  study 
before  it  is  six  years  old,  you  shall  always  have  to 
run  after  and  yet  never  get  hold  of  it." 

Look  at  the  story  of  the  infant  Samuel,  for  ex- 
ample. How  perfectly  natural,  simple,  childlike  it 
is !  And  yet  a  miraculous  event  occurred.  God 
himself  is  one  of  the  speakers.  There  is  every 
temptation  for  the  writer  to  make  the  little  boy  pre- 
ternatural in  wisdom.  Many  a  modern  writer  de- 
scribing the  scene  would  have  made  him  talk  more 
wisely  than  Eli  himself.  But  the  pen  of  inspiration 
never  makes  such  mistakes.  The  child  is  still  a  child 
even  when  he  talks  with  God.  As  we  follow  the 
story  of  that  marvellous  night  of  vision,  we  do  not 
find  anything  strained,  unnatural,  precocious  in  it  all. 
Here,  if  anywhere,  should  we  expect  a  departure  from 
childlike  simplicity ;  and  yet  Samuel,  in  spite  of  his 
visions  and  early  prophetic  gifts,  was  a  simple,  nat- 
ural boy.  And  when  we  turn  over  the  pages  of 
sacred  story,  and  turn  with  them  the  leaves  of  twelve 
hundred  years  of  the  world's  history,  we  see  nothing 
in  that  perfect  child  life,  which  began  in  the  manger 
and  was  continued  in  Nazareth,  that  contradicts  our 
proposition  that  child  life  in  the  Bible  is  natural  and 
simple. 

It  becomes  us  to  speak  with  care  and  reverence  of 
the  immaculate  life  of  the  child  Jesus,  and  yet  we 
challenge  any  one  to  find  there  anything  inconsistent 
with  the  boy  nature  that  He  is  represented  as  endued 
with.     Even  that  scene  in  the  temple  where  He  is 


8  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

shown  to  US  at  twelve  years  of  age  as  both  hearing 
the  doctors  and  asking  them  questions  is  not  so 
unnatural  as  we  are  inclined  to  think.  Every  Jewish 
child  from  a  devout  family  was  well  trained  in  the  law, 
and  had  a  right  in  the  synagogue  to  ask  his  elders 
questions,  or  to  give  them  his  views ;  but  it  was  all 
done  in  a  natural,  childlike,  appropriate  way.  The 
conceited  Josephus  tells  us  that  the  doctors  came 
to  consult  him  concerning  the  law  before  he  was 
fourteen  ;  but  we  hear  no  such  boast  concerning 
Jesus.  And  this  action  of  our  Lord's  did  not  seem 
to  fill  His  parents  with  any  wonder  or  awe,  for  they 
immediately  began  to  chide  Him  in  their  short-sighted 
wisdom  for  eluding  their  search.  The  Apocryphal 
Gospels  are  filled  with  the  miracles  of  the  boy  Jesus. 
According  to  them  He  made  clay  birds  to  fly,  and 
struck  a  little  companion  dead  for  blasphemy,  and 
raised  the  dead  to  life  again.  But  their  very  unnat- 
uralness  brands  them  as  spurious.  When  we  compare 
them  with  the  sweet,  simple,  unostentatious  accounts 
of  the  true  Gospels,  we  see  how  incomparably  better 
it  is  for  a  child  to  be  a  child.  We  see  that  even 
the  Lord  of  all,  when  He  took  human  flesh,  did  not 
transgress  the  laws  of  child  life. 

But  again,  while  child  life  in  the  Bible  is  eminently 
simple  and  natural,  it  is  also  eminently  religious. 
These  two  elements  must  not  be  divorced  in  our 
minds,  if  we  would  see  the  children  of  the  next  gen- 
eration grow  up  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  A  reli- 
gious life,  a  life  of  faith  and  prayer,  a  Christ-like  life, 
is  natural  for  a  child,  and  we  make  a  woful  mistake 


CHILD    LIFE    IN    THE   BIBLE.  9 

when  we  think  that  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  boy- 
ish wickedness  and  girlish  frivolity  which  must  be  run 
through  before  the  religious  life  can  begin.  How  did 
our  Saviour  himself  represent  the  religious  life  to  the 
thronging  crowds  ?  "  Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto 
him,  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  Verily 
I  say  unto  you,  except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as 
little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  A  child,  do  we  say,  cannot  be  religious 
because  he  is  still  a  child  ?  This  is  a  fearful  mis- 
take to  act  upon.  Cannot  a  rosebud  contain  the 
sweetest  fragrance  and  be  painted  with  the  most  del- 
icate colors  because  it  is  yet  a  bud  and  not  a  full-blown 
flower  ?  Cannot  the  tiny  cascade  that  flows  down  the 
mountain-side  be  pure  and  sparkling  and  life-giving 
because  it  is  not  yet  a  sweeping,  rushing  river.?  We 
expect  to  find  fragrance  in  the  bud  and  purity  in  the 
mountain  rill ;  we  should  expect  to  find  religious 
fragrance  and  purity  in  the  child's  life,  implanted 
there  very  early  by  the  Saviour  of  little  children. 
We  should  look  for  it,  plan  for  it,  and  be  alarmed  if 
we  do  not  find  it ;  and  regard  a  young  soul  without  it 
as  a  distorted  and  ill-proportioned  object,  a  soul  that 
lacks  its  chief  excellence,  just  as  a  scentless  bud  or  a 
brackish  mountain  brook  would  be  resrarded.  But 
this  early  religious  life,  we  must  remember,  does 
not  take  care  of  itself,  any  more  than  a  rosebud 
springs  up  out  of  the  ground  without  care  ;  the  soil 
must  be  prepared,  the  seed  must  be  dropped,  the  lit- 
tle plant  must  be  watered  and  nourished  and  pruned 
and  trained. 


10         THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

t 

The  education  of  the  Jewish  children,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  eminently  a  religious  training.  "  If  you 
ask  a  Jew,"  says  Josephus,  "concerning  any  matter 
concerning  the  law,  he  can  more  easily  explain  it 
than  tell  his  own  name  ;  since  we  learn  it  from  the 
first  beginning  of  intelligence,  it  is,  as  it  were,  graven 
on  our  souls."  "The  Jews,"  says  Philo,  "look  on 
their  laws  as  revelations  from  God,  and  are  taught 
them  from  their  earliest  infancy  ;  they  bear  the  image 
of  the  law  on  their  souls."  The  children  were  bound 
to  worship  God  in  his  sanctuary  "as  soon  as  they 
were  able,"  was  the  regulation,  "with  the  help  of 
their  fathers'  hand,  to  climb  the  flight  of  steps  into 
the  temple  courts."  This  was  the  way  Samuel  was 
trained,  and  David  and  John  and  Timothy ;  and 
because  of  this  training  they  became  Samuel  and 
David  and  John  and  Timothy.  It  depends  upon  the 
parents  and  teachers  of  to-day  what  the  next  genera- 
tion shall  be,  and  it  depends  upon  what  they  do  and 
teach  to-day.  We  have  the  clean,  white,  smooth 
tablets  in  our  hands,  in  the  souls  of  our  children : 
what  shall  we  write  thereon,  religion  or  worldliness  ? 

Again,  child  life  in  the  Bible  is  always  represented  as 
a  constant  growth. 

Over  and  over  again  we  are  told  the  child  Samuel 
grew  before  the  Lord.  "And  Samuel  grew,  and  the 
Lord  was  with  him."  Of  John  the  Baptist  as  a 
child  it  is  said,  "  He  grew  and  waxed  strong  in 
spirit."  And  even  of  our  Lord  Himself  the  same 
words  are  used.  How  we  should  shrink  from  using 
such  an  expression  if  we  had  no  inspired  authority 


CHILD    LIFE    IN    THE    BIBLE.  II 

for  it !  The  Saviour  grew,  increased  in  spiritual 
power!  *' Why,"  we  should  say,  "it  is  almost  blas- 
phemy to  speak  thus."  But  the  Bible  says  so.  "  And 
the  child  grew  and  waxed  strong  in  spirit,  and  the 
grace  of  God  was  on  him."  This  idea  is  universal 
throughout  the  Bible.  To  become  reUgious  does  not 
make  a  prodigy  of  a  boy  or  girl.  It  does  not  ripen 
and  mature  the  character  all  at  once.  It  is  not  a 
hot-bed  process.  The  religious  child  is  still  a  child, 
needing  training,  instruction,  warning,  and  we  must 
not  expect  or  look  for  anything  else.  When  we  see 
the  seed  sown  in  fickle  April  weather  springing  up 
in  April  and  flowering  in  April  and  bearing  fruit  in 
April,  when  we  see  saplings  grow  visibly  before  our 
eyes,  expand  in  girth  and  throw  out  far-reaching  roots 
and  gigantic  limbs  in  a  single  season,  then  may  we 
expect  to  see  a  child  Christian  become  an  old  Chris- 
tian in  a  week ;  but  till  then  we  need  not  expect 
to  see  any  such  phenomena.  Of  course  a  child's 
ideas  of  religion  are  crude,  of  course  his  knowledge 
of  duty  is  imperfect,  of  course  he  falls  into  childish 
blunders  and  errors ;  there  would  be  no  such  thing 
as  growth  in  grace  were  it  otherwise.  But  the  acorn 
contains  the  oak,  the  straight,  branchless  sapling  is 
the  forerunner  of  the  wide-spreading  shade  tree  ;  in 
the  child  Christian's  heart  lie  the  germs  of  the  aged 
Christian's  experience. 

We  think  there  is  a  lesson  of  vast  importance  in 
these  considerations  of  child  life  in  the  Bible.  We 
beg  for  it  careful  and  prayerful  attention,  for  it  is  a 
lesson  which  the  church  has  too  long  neglected  to 


12  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

its  own  sad  hurt.  It  is  this  :  It  is  natural,  it  is  pos- 
sible, it  is  desirable  for  children  to  grow  up  into 
Christian  manhood  and  womanhood  without  experi- 
encing any  sharp  and  sudden  transition  from  an  evil 
life  to  a  good  life.  Nay,  it  is  not  only  possible  and 
desirable,  it  is  the  thing  we  ought  to  expect ;  it  ought 
to  be  as  common  for  young  children  to  be  born  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  as  to  be  born  into  the  world.  It 
is  possible  and  natural  for  children  to  be  converted 
at  their  mothers'  knee,  and  never  know  the  time 
when  they  did  not  love  the  Saviour.  And  this  should 
not  be  something  rare,  occasional,  remarkable,  a  phe- 
nomenon, a  thing  to  excite  remark,  like  a  comet  or 
a  meteor.  It  should  be  the  usual,  expected  thing 
that  children  of  religious  parents  should  choose  to 
live  for  the  Saviour  as  early  as  they  are  able  to  make 
any  choice,  and  should  be  received  into  the  church 
and  receive  its  nurturing,  fostering  care.  Search  the 
child  biographies  of  the  Bible  through  and  see  if  this 
idea  is  not  borne  out.  Was  Samuel  a  wise,  independ- 
ent man  before  he  heard  God  speak  his  name  ?  Was 
John  the  Baptist  allowed  to  sow  any  wild  oats  before 
he  became  a  preacher  of  righteousness  ?  Could  Tim- 
othy better  have  strengthened  the  early  church  if 
he  had  been  a  roue  in  his  youth  ?  Did  Jesus  Him- 
self pass  through  no  period  of  boyhood  growth  ? 
Did  even  He  not  require  thirty  long  years  of  train- 
ing before  He  called  a  single  disciple  to  Him  ?  The 
churches  and  Christian  parents  at  large  have  had 
their  eyes  blinded  to  tliis  matter.  The  church  has 
often  said  to  the  children,  "You   cannot   come    in 


CHILD    LIFE    IN    THE    BIBLE.  I3 

here  :  stand  out  there  in  the  vestibule  until  you  are 
grown  up  "  ;  and  a  very  cold,  cheerless  vestibule  it  has 
often  been.  Or  else  it  has  said,  "  Go  to  the  Sun- 
day school :  that  will  do  for  you  while  you  are  young." 
Devout  parents  have  prayed  earnestly  that  their 
children  might  become  Christian  men  and  women, 
but  they  have  forgotten  to  pray  that  they  might  be- 
come Christian  boys  and  girls ;  and  the  men  and 
women  have  too  often  remained  what  the  boys  and 
girls  were.  It  has  been  considered  almost  a  neces- 
sity that  they  should  become  somewhat  bad  before 
becoming  very  good.  Hence  the  sad  lapses  from 
virtue  in  the  children  of  Christian  parents  ;  hence 
the  drunken  boys  and  ruined  girls  who  have  brought 
shame  into  Christian  homes  ;  hence  the  facts  which 
have  given  rise  to  the  old  saw  about  ministers'  sons 
and  deacons'  daughters. 

The  doctrines  of  conversion,  conviction  of  sin,  and 
regeneration  have  been  monstrously  perverted  when 
they  have  been  made  to  teach  that  in  every  case, 
whatever  the  natural  disposition  or  early  training, 
there  must  be  a  sudden,  conscious,  terrible  wrench 
from  old  ways  of  living ;  for  it  shuts  out  all  childish 
conversions,  and  makes  a  youth  of  sin  indispensable 
to  an  old  age  of  godliness.  This  explains  many  of 
the  terrible  revelations  which  praying  parents  have 
had  concerning  their  sons  and  daughters.  They 
have  looked  and  longed  and  prayed  for  a  sudden, 
thrilling  conversion  and  experience  for  their  children, 
rather  than  for  a  very  early  turning  to  God  and 
growth  in  grace.     This  sudden,  thrilling  experience 


14       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

never  came,  but  ruin  and  disgrace  and  heart-ache 
have  come,  because  the  parents  have  not  practically 
believed  in  a  religious  childhood.  We  believe  that 
the  Bible  teaches  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  young, 
innocent  children  to  agonize  over  their  sins,  and  mourn 
and  weep  like  gray-haired  offenders,  and  then  come 
out  of  a  terrible  darkness  into  a  marvellous  light. 
We  need  not  look  for  any  such  experience.  The 
dawn  comes  gradually,  the  lightning  with  a  blinding 
flash ;  but  the  daylight  is  far  more  useful  than  the 
lightning's  glare,  and  he  is  a  foolish  parent  who  says, 
"  I  will  not  believe  that  my  child  has  any  light  until 
the  electric  flash  strikes  him  blind  with  its  dazzling 
rays."  It  depends  very  largely  upon  Christian  par- 
ents whether  the  day-dawn  from  on  high  shall  come 
into  their  children's  lives  while  they  are  very  young 
and  illuminate  all  their  eternity.  Let  us  plan  for 
this,  pray  for  this,  exj^ect  this,  and  to  our  children 
will  belong  the  blessed  experience  of  never  knowing 
a  time  when  they  were  not  Christians. 


A  PLACE  IN  THE  CHURCH  FOR  CHILDREN.    1 5 


CHAPTER     II. 

IS   THERE    A    PLACE    IN    THE   CHURCH    FOR   CHILDREN  ? 

Jerusalem,  full  of  Boys  and  Girls  playing.  —  A  Place  for 
Children  in  the  Church.  —  Indicated  by  the  Nature  of 
Childhood.  —  By  the  Nature  of  Conversion.  —  By  the  Nature 
of  the  Church.  —  The  Church  of  the  Future. 

Ought  there  to  be  a  place  in  the  church  for  chil- 
dren who  have  given  their  hearts  to  God  }  is  one 
of  the  vital  religious  questions  of  the  day.  We  do 
not  mean  to  ask  if  there  is  a  place  in  the  church 
for  an  occasional  child,  one  lamb  among  a  hundred 
sheep.  There  always  have  been  such  sporadic  cases, 
and  the  church  has  not  often  seriously  objected  to 
admitting  the  rare,  precocious  little  saint.  ,  But  the 
far  more  practical  question  is,  ought  there  to  be 
room  in  the  bonds  of  church  fellowship  for  the  great 
mass  of  average  boys  and  girls,  who  by  judicious 
training  and  careful  Christian  nurture  may  be  induced 
very  early  to  give  their  hearts  to  God .''  Aye,  we 
believe  with  all  our  heart  there  ought  to  be  such  a 
place.  We  believe  that  before  many  years  there 
will  be  such  a  place  in  every  true  church,  and  it  will 
be  just  as  much  expected  that  many  young  children 
will  form  part  of  the  membership  of  every  church 
as  that  there  will  be  gray-haired  men  and  women 


l6  THE    CHILTDREN   AND   THE    CHURCH. 

there.  Notice  the  terms  of  the  prophecy  of  Zecha- 
riah  concerning  the  future  glory  of  God's  kingdom, 
a  prophecy  which  refers,  undoubtedly,  to  the  earthly 
kingdom  which  is  often  called  by  the  name  Jeru- 
salem. '*  The  streets  of  the  city  [Jerusalem]  shall 
be  fidl  of  boys  and  girls  "  ;  not  here  and  there  one 
who  has  somehow  strayed  within  the  walls,  and  is 
regarded  as  a  prodigy  and  a  wonder ;  not  a  few  of  the 
sickly  and  the  weak,  who  step  into  the  courts  of  the 
earthly  Jerusalem  for  a  little  while  as  into  the  outer 
courts  of  the  heavenly  city  :  not  this,  but  in  that 
good  day  it  shall  be  full  of  boys  and  girls  ;  a  large 
part  of  the  membership  of  the  church  shall  come 
into  it  in  very  early  life.  Of  course,  as  in  all  cities 
many  move  into  them  in  mature  life,  so  many  will 
always  come  into  the  church  of  God  after  a  long 
residence  outside ;  but  it  is  also  true  that  as  in  old 
cities  and  countries  the  great  majority  of  the  inhab- 
itants are  natives,  so  the  great  majority  of  the 
dwellers  in  God's  earthly  city. should  be,  as  it  were, 
born  within  its  walls,  children  of  Christian  parents, 
who  have  been  trained  for  God's  service  from  their 
infancy,  and  who  never  knew  the  time  when  they 
were  not  Christians. 

Another  point  of  this  prophecy  makes  it  clear  that 
though  they  are  in  the  city  of  God,  they  are  boys  and 
girls  still.  They  do  not  become  old  men  and  women 
the  moment  they  set  foot  within  the  church  doors. 
They  are  child  Christians,  as  well  as  children  at 
school  and  at  their  plays.  They  do  not  eschew 
games  and  fun  and  romps  and  glee.     They  bring  all 


A    PLACE    IN    THE   CHURCH    FOR   CHILDREN.  1/ 

the  exuberance  and  joyous,  bubbling  fulness  of  their 
lives  into  their  new  consecration.  They  are  boys 
and  girls  ^^ playing  in  the  streets,"  not  simply  boys 
and  girls  walking  demurely  and  soberly  about  the 
streets.  Such  boys  and  girls  serve  God  with  their 
base-ball  and  foot-ball  and  hop-scotch  as  well  as  in 
the  prayer  meeting  and  at  the  communion  table. 
The  very  nature  of  childhood  teaches  us  that  there  is 
a  place  for  children  in  the  church.  Childhood  is  inno- 
cent, ardent,  sincere:  what  three  traits  are  more 
needed  in  the  church  of  God,  or  better  fit  one  for 
usefulness  in  it  .^  Take,  for  instance,  two  men.  One 
of  them  is  all  covered  with  the  blotches  of  sin  ;  it  has 
tainted  his  blood,  it  has  corrupted  his  imagination, 
it  has  made  his  talk  foul.  Moreover,  he  has  grown 
hard  and  callous ;  nothing  moves  him.  He  believes 
in  no  one,  and  hence  his  own  sincerity  of  character 
is  impaired.  Because  he  distrusts  every  one's  hon- 
esty, he  himself  cannot  be  trusted.  This  is  one 
man,  whose  counterpart  we  often  see.  Another  man 
stands  by  his  side.  His  life  has  always  been  gov- 
erned by  principle ;  he  has  been  pure  in  thought  and 
desire;  he* believes  in  purity  in  others;  he  is  moved 
at  the  sight  of  heroism  and  true  goodness ;  he  is 
sincere  in  his  attachments,  and  believes  in  the  sin- 
cerity of  others.  Neither  of  these  men  are  Chris- 
tians ;  but  which  of  them,  other  things  being  equal, 
is  nearest  the  kingdom  of  God }  Which  is  most  fit  for 
Christ's  service.'*  We  say  at  once,  "The  compara- 
tively pure,  sincere  man;  the  earnest,  zealous  man." 
But  are  purity,  ardor,  sincerity  worth  less  in  a  child 

2 


l8  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

than  in  a  man  ?  Do  not  these  very  traits,  which  are 
natural  to  the  young,  when  they  become  energized 
and  made  fruitful  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  mark  their 
possessors  as  the  fittest  candidates  for  the  church  of 
God? 

Where  does  the  recruiting  officer  look  for  new 
soldiers  ?  Does  he  search  among  the  battle-scarred 
survivors  of  the  last  fight,  who  came  out  of  it 
wounded  and  decrepit,  with  the  loss  of  a  leg  or  an 
arm,  or  a  bullet  hole  in  their  skins  ?  Does  he  search 
through  the  hospitals  and  soldiers'  homes  for  recruits  ? 
Rather,  does  he  not  look  among  the  able-bodied 
young  men  who  have  not  been  scarred  by  bullet  or 
wasted  by  fever  ?  The  tried  veteran  may  be  cooler 
under  fire,  and  understand  better  the  ruse  and  am- 
buscade of  the  enemy ;  but  after  all,  the  decimated 
regiments  are  not  filled  with  such  men.  Why  should 
we  always  seek  to  fill  the  army  of  the  living  God 
with  those  who  have  been  worsted  in  the  fight  with 
selfishness  and  greed  and  lust  ?  Whom  do  business 
men  take  into  their  stores  to  learn  their  business  ? 
They  do  not  take  some  one  with  habits  fixed,  and 
will  immovable,  and  intellect  unteachable;  somebody 
who,  by  years  of  other  work,  has  contracted  a  dis- 
taste for  their  business.  They  take  a  boy  and  give 
him  a  boy's  work  to  do  ;  he  becomes  a  young  man, 
and  has  a  young  man's  work  to  do  ;  and  by  and  by 
he  becomes  a  partner,  perhaps.  Surely  he  makes  a 
better  man  for  the  business  than  one  who  never 
entered  the  store  until  he  signed  the  articles  of 
partnership.     Has  not  the  church  made  a  mistake 


A    PLACE    IN    THE    CHURCH    FOR    CHILDREN.  I9 

in  neglecting  the  young  recruits,  in  refusing  to  train 
its  children  from  the  very  first  within  its  own  walls  ? 
The  Holy  Spirit  does  not  prefer  a  broken  and  shat- 
tered harp  to  one  that  is  full-stringed  and  musical 
He  uses  earthen  vessels,  to  be  sure ;  but  he  cannot 
do  more  with  one  that  is  cracked  and  chipped  and 
foul  than  with  one  that  is  whole  and  sound.  Can 
we  not  truly  say  that  the  very  characteristics  of 
childhood  show  us  that  there  is  a  place  for  the  child 
in  the  church  of  God  ? 

No  less  does  the  nature  of  conversion  point  ns  to  the 
same  fact.  There  is  but  one  question  of  pre-eminent 
importance  to  ask  of  those  who  knock  at  the  door 
of  the  church  before  it  is  opened  for  their  admission, 
and  that  is,  "  Have  you  given  your  heart  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  are  you  tiying  to  do  his  will  1 " 
We  do  not  ask,  "  Do  you  understand  all  the  doc- 
trines }  "  *'  Are  you  a  theologian  } "  "  Do  you  agree 
with  us  on  all  nice,  metaphysical  points.?"  These 
are  not  the  questions,  but  "  Are  you  trusting  in  the 
atoning  merits  of  Christ  for  salvation,  and  are  you 
trying  every  day  to  do  His  will }  If  so,  the  church 
is  the  place  for  you."  We  say  it  deliberately  and 
thoughtfully :  we  believe  an  ordinary  child  of  eight 
or  ten  years  can  understand  just  as  well  what  con- 
version means,  as  a  practical  matter  that  concerns 
himself,  as  the  most  hoary  sinner  to  whom  the  Spirit 
ever  spoke.  He  cannot  talk  about  it  so  well  ;  he 
cannot  analyze  his  feelings  so  well ;  he  does  not 
feel  the  same  remorse  for  sin,  for  he  has  not  com- 
mitted the  same  sins  to  be  remorseful  about :  but  he 


20        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

can  appreciate  the  sacrifice  of  his  Saviour;  he  can 
say,   ''Lord,   I  beUeve,"  just   as  sincerely  as  if  his 
mind  had  been  befogged   by  a   course   of    German 
psychology.     "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth, 
and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not 
tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.     So  is 
every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."     So  is  the  child, 
as  well  as  the  well-seasoned  reprobate.     Does  not 
the  same  wind  that  bends  the  sturdy  elm  rustle  the 
delicate   petals    of    the   rose-bush  ?      Does    not   the 
same  breeze  that  flutters  the  leaves  on  the  topmost 
bough   bend   the   grass    blades    in    the    meadows  ? 
"Great   is  the  mystery  of  godliness."     This  is  one 
of  the  mysteries :  that  while  the  ripest  scholar  cannot 
fully  explain  or  understand  all  the  provisions  of  the 
scheme   of   salvation,  the    simplest    child,  who    has 
come  to  years  of  accountability,  can   know  enough 
about  it  to  accept  its  provisions  and  be  saved.     Let 
us  ask  the  parents  who  read  these  pages  if  they  do 
not  believe  that  just  as  soon  as  their  children  become 
accountable   for   their   deeds   and   liable   to  receive 
punishment  for  them,  the  loving  Father  of  all  pro- 
vides a  way  of  escape  for  them  that  is  just  as  plain 
and  easy  for  them  to  accept  as  for  the  parents  them- 
selves, who  like  them  are  accountable.?     We  know, 
when  we  think  of  it,  that  it  must  be  so.     We  know 
that  just  so  soon  as  a  child  becomes  an  accountable 
being  he  may  be  saved  from  the  sins  for  which  he 
is  accountable,  or  else  the  love  of  God  becomes  a 
delusion  and  a  lie. 

If  all  children  need  to  be  saved,  if  any  child  may 


A    PLACE    IN    THE    CHURCH    FOR    CHILDREN.  21 

be  saved,  why  will  we  not  pray  and  labor  and  believe 
that  OILY  children  rn.ay  be  saved  ?  When  the  child 
gives  good  evidence  of  conversion,  there  ought  to  be 
no  bar  between  him  and  the  communion  table  of  his 
dying  Lord. 

But  some  one  says,  "As  an  actual  fact  we  do  not 
find  this  state  of  affairs.  It  is  comparatively  seldom 
that  we  hear  of  young  children  being  converted.  It 
is  only  in  rare  instances  of  remarkable  children." 
But  is  not  this  because  we  are  unbelieving  rather 
than  because  God  is  unwilling  .-*  Is  it  not  because 
we  do  not  expect  and  work  for  and  pray  for  their 
conversion  }  Expect  your  children  to  be  Christians 
early  as  much  as  you  expect  them  to  learn  to  walk 
and  to  learn  to  talk.  Use  means  to  make  them  such, 
and  the  anomalous  cases  will  be  those  found  outside 
of  the  church  rather  than  within  it. 

Ojice  more,  the  very  natiLre  of  the  church  proves  that 
tJicre  ought  to  be  a  place  for  cJiildreii  witJim  it.  Think 
of  our  common  figurative  names  for  the  church ! 
"It  is  a  fold,"  we  say.  What  is  the  use  of  a  fold.? 
Is  it  a  high  enclosure,  built  with  pickets  and  a  heavy 
padlock  on  the  gate  to  keep  out  the  lambs  and  to 
keep  in  the  sheep.'*  "It  is  a  home."  What  is  a 
home  }  Is  it  a  boarding-house  for  all  above  a  certain 
age  who  can  furnish  certificates  of  good  moral  char- 
acter }  Nay,  it  is  not  a  complete  home  until  there 
are  prattling  voices  in  the  nursery,  and  little  feet 
pattering  up  the  stairs,  and  little  hearts  and  heads  to 
be  trained  for  what  is  good  and  wise.  "  The  church 
is  a  school,"  we  sometimes  hear  it  said.     Yes,  and 


22        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

what  is  a  school  ?  A  place  for  learned  scholars 
to  discuss  knotty  problems  ?  Not  generally,  but  a 
place  where  immature  minds  are  trained  and  di- 
rected. If,  then,  we  mean  anything  when  we  say 
that  a  church  is  a  fold,  a  home,  a  school^  we  mean 
that  there  is  a  place  in  it  for  the  child  who  is  also  a 
child  of  God.  Says  one  of  the  wisest  and  most  suc- 
cessful pastors  of  our  land,  speaking  on  this  sub- 
ject :  "  Every  child  that  gives  clear  evidence  of  faith 
in  Christ  and  a  sincere  love  to  Him  is  entitled  to 
admission  into  the  fold,  especially  if  parents  testify 
that  they  see  such  evidence  at  home.  The  Bible 
gives  no  limitation  of  age.  As  soon  as  a  boy  is  old 
enough  to  do  intentional  wrong,  he  is  old  enough  to 
do  intentional  right.  As  soon  as  he  can  sin,  he  can, 
by  the  help  of  God's  spirit,  repent  of  sin  and  lay  hold 
on  Christ.  When  conversion  takes  place,  confes- 
sion should  follow.  The  church  itself  is  not  chiefly 
a  higher  university  for  the  advanced  growth  and 
finishing  off  of  ripe  believers ;  it  is  Christ's  training 
school,  in  which  the  alphabet  truths  are  taught. 
Why  keep  one  of  Christ's  scholars  out  of  Christ's 
school  until  he  has  made  the  proficiency  of  a  ma- 
tured experience,  or  what  is  the  use  of  a  fold  if  the 
lambs  are  to  be  kept  out  in  the  cold  until  they  can 
stand  the  weather .?  "  In  addition  to  these  familiar 
figures,  the  church  is  often  spoken  of  as  a  city,  —  the 
city  of  God.  But  in  all  earthly  cities  we  encourage 
those  whose  parents  reside  in  the  city  to  make  it 
their  abode  too.  The  very  fact  that  their  parents 
are  citizens  makes  them  citizens  during  their  infancy. 


A    PLACE    IN    THE    CHURCH    FOR    CHILDREN.         23 

As  we  have  said  before,  we  expect  those  whose  par- 
ents live  in  the  town  to  make  the  best  citizens.  It 
is  only  in  the  city  of  God  that  we  do  not  carry  out 
this  principle.  If  it  is  the  unwritten  law  of  the 
church  that  our  children  shall  wander  away  from  it 
before  they  are  brought  into  it,  that  they  must  drink 
the  bitter  waters  of  sin  before  they  drink  the  sweet 
waters  of  salvation,  shall  we  have  any  but  ourselves 
to  blame  for  the  decadence  of  the  church }  This  is 
not  a  matter  which  we  can  treat  lightly  or  indiffer- 
ently. The  welfare  of  the  church  of  God  depends 
more  upon  the  attention  that  is  given  to  this  problem 
and  its  right  solution,  during  the  next  generation, 
than  upon  any  other  question.  It  ought  to  be  the 
expected,  well-understood  thing  that  the  children  of 
church  members  should  themselves  become  church 
members  before  they  leave  the  parental  roof.  The 
exceptions  to  this  rule  should  be  looked  upon  as 
anomalous  cases,  as  sad  examples  of  perversity  in 
face  of  the  light,  which  only  God  in  His  infinite  wis- 
dom can  explain. 

We  do  not  expect  our  children  to  become  scholars 
unless  we  provide  them  books  and  send  them  to 
school  and  incite-in  them  in  every  way  a  desire  for 
study ;  but  too  many  parents  expect  their  children  to 
become  Christian,  somehow,  sometime,  in  some  mys- 
terious way,  though  they  seldom  say  a  word  to  them 
about  it,  or  intimate  to  them  that  they  owe  some- 
thing to  their  souls  as  well  as  to  their  intellects. 

We  are  no  advocate  of  haste  in  the  matter  of 
children  joining   the    church ;   of   any  inconsiderate 


24  THE   CHILDREN    AND   THE    CHURCH. 

action.  The  evidences  of  a  child's  conversion  should 
be  looked  to  as  carefully  as  those  of  an  older  person. 
How  does  he  seem  at  home  ?  Is  he  gentler,  kinder, 
more  considerate,  more  unselfish  ?  Does  he  pray  ? 
Does  he  read  the  Bible  ?  Parents  know  more  about 
these  evidences  than  the  wisest  church  committee 
can  learn.  Does  the  child  do  right  for  Jesus'  sake  ? 
If  so,  his  place  is  beside  his  father  and  mother  at  the 
communion  table.  And  then,  when  he  takes  his 
place  there,  the  good  work  is  just  begun.  Constant 
nurture  is  the  price  of  a  matured,  well-rounded,  sym- 
metrical, Christian  life.  We  do  not  turn  our  children 
loose  in  a  school-room,  and  expect  them  to  become 
ripe  scholars,  without  any  guidance  or  direction  be- 
cause there  is  a  blackboard  and  a  primer  and  a  map 
and  a  globe  there.  We  need  not  expect  that  children 
turned  loose  in  the  church  will  become  ripe  Chris- 
tians, without  care,  simply  because  there  is  a  cross 
and  a  Bible  and  a  hymn  book  and  a  prayer  meeting 
there.  It  has  been  well  said,  ''  Regeneration  is 
simply  a  birth,  and  birth  means  infancy.  Infancy 
necessitates  feeding,  nursing,  watching,  guidance. 
Presently  come  the  stumblings  and  the  tumbles  of 
inexperience,  and  soon  arises  need  of  correction.  If 
we  always  regarded  a  soul's  conversion  and  open 
confession  of  Christ  as  we  regard  a  birth  in  our  own 
homes,  our  next  thought  would  be  about  the  nurture 
of  the  new-born  immortal."  There  is  no  more 
danger  of  laxness  and  backsliding  in  a  child  Chris- 
tian, trained  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  fidelity,  than 
there  is  of  a  mature  Christian  falling  from  the  grace 


A    PLACE    IN    THE    CHURCH    FOR    CHILDREN  2$ 

which  has  made  him  free.  We  will  go  further  than 
this  ;  we  believe  that  the  best  results  of  Christian 
life  can  only  be  attained  by  those  who,  in  early  years, 
are  brought  into  the  church  of  God,  and  are  trained 
up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 
Fathers  and  mothers  hold  the  key  to  the  situation. 
Upon  their  shoulders,  more  than  upon  any  human 
instrumentality,  rests  the  burden.  They  are  responsi- 
ble for  the  future  strength  or  weakness  of  the  church. 

The  pastor  can  do  something  for  the  children, 
but  he  cannot  do  all.  The  Sunday-school  teachers 
can  do  much,  but  not  all.  The  church  can  do  far 
more  than  she  has  done  to  look  after  the  young,  but 
no  one  can  remove  from  the  parents  or  divide  with 
them  their  responsibility. 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  There  shall  yet 
old  men  and  old  women  dwell  in  the  streets  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  every  man  with  his  staff  in  his  hand  for 
very  age,  and  the  streets  of  the  city  shall  be  full  of 
boys  and  girls." 

That  prophecy  is  yet  to  be  fulfilled.  We  can 
see  in  our  mind's  eye  in  one  of  the  future  years 
a  great  church  gathered  together.  They  are  obey- 
ing that  never  obsolete  precept  of  our  Lord,  "  This 
do  in  remembrance  of  me."  The  emblematic  bread 
and  wine  are  before  them.  Not  only  a  few  of  the 
more  sedate  and  staid  are  gathered  there,  while  the 
great  mass  of  the  young  people  go  out,  awaiting  the 
assembling  of  the  Sunday  school  in  the  afternoon 
as  the  only  service  for  them  ;  but  all  are  there,  in 
that   church    of    the  future ;    the   grandfather   and 


26        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

grandmother    tottering   with    age ;    the   father   and 

mother  in  the  vigor  of  middle  hfe ;  the  boy  verging 
into  manhood  ;  the  girl  blossomxing  into  womanhood ; 
the  younger  brother  and  sister  ;  the  little  one,  too, 
seven,  eight,  or  nine  years  of  age,  bowing  with  rev- 
erence before  the  emblems  of  Him  who  died  for 
young  and  old,  of  Him  who  shall  gather  the  lambs 
with  his  arm  and  carry  them  in  his  bosom. 

There  are  vacant  places  in  some  of  those  pews 
that  we  see  in  this  vision  of  the  church  of  the  future, 
but  they  are  not  caused  by  the  indifferent  absence 
of  young  or  old  from  that  great  family  gathering, 
but  the  only  vacant  places  are  those  which  the  great 
Teacher  himself  has  made  by  taking  some  of  the 
little  pupils  from  the  school  below  to  the  school 
above,  without  allowing  them  to  pass  through  the 
university  course  of  a  long,  earthly  life.  But,  with 
these  exceptions,  these  households  are  unbroken 
around  the  communion  table  of  that  church  of  the 
future.  It  is  a  strange  circumstance,  if  any  member 
of  the  family  is  voluntarily  away.  The  service  is 
begun.  The  Bible  is  opened.  The  leader  reads, 
''  Feed  my  sheep,  feed  my  sheep."  That  is  not 
forgotten,  but  these  Christians  do  not  stop  there ; 
they  do  not  forget  to  read  and  obey  the  rest  of 
Christ's  commands,  "Feed  my  lambs."  In  this 
picture  of  the  future  church,  which  our  imagination 
summons  up,  this  prophecy  is  fulfilled.  Zion  is  full 
of  boys  and  girls.  The  lambs  are  fed.  May  God 
speedily  make  this  vision  a  blessed  reality.  May 
God  soon  send  that  glad  day. 


CHURCH   MEMBERSHIP    FOR   CHILDREN.  2/ 


CHAPTER     III. 

CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP    FOR    CHILDREN. 

The  Need  of  It.  —  Shown  by  the  Sluggish,  Depleted  State  of 
our  Churches.  —  The  Difficulty  of  Impressing  with  Rehgious 
Truth  Persons  of  Mature  Years.  —  Obstacles.  —  Opposition 
and  Indifference  of  Parents,  Teachers,  and  Churches.  —  "I 
am  afraid  my  Child  will  not  hold  out."  —  Unreasonable  Ex- 
pectations. —  Encouragements.  —  Experience  of  Eminent 
Divines. 

In  the  last  chapter  we  attempted  to  show,  from  the 
nature  of  childhood  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
church,  the  evident  relationship  of  one  to  the  other. 
Let  us  pursue  this  subject  a  little  further,  and  consider 
the  need  of  bringing  children  into  the  church,  and 
the  objections  and  encouragements  to  early  church 
membership.  To  show  the  necessity  of  adopting 
some  means  for  promoting  the  numerical  and  spirit- 
ual growth  of  our  churches,  we  need  go  no  further 
than  to  the  official  record  of  any  of  our  large  denom- 
inations. The  "Congregational  Year-Book"  for  1882 
shows  an  apparent  net  loss  in  the  whole  denomination 
last  year  of  2,635  raembers  ;  and  even  the  most  favor- 
able showing  gives  an  increase  of  only  3,500  members, 
or  a  net  gain  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  every  one 
hundred  and  eleven  church  members.  How  long,  at 
that  rate,  will  the  Congregational  denomination  be 


28  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

in  accomplishing  its  part  toward  converting  the  world 
to  Christ  ?  Other  large  denominational  statistics  tell 
a  story  but  little  brighter  than  this,  while  some  sects 
have  still  more  disastrous  figures  to  face.  There  are 
thousands  of  churches,  all  our  country  over,  in  all 
denominations,  which  are  growing  smaller  year  after 
year,  while  others  barely  hold  their  own.  These  thin- 
ning ranks,  however,  can  be  filled  with  Christian 
boys  and  girls,  who  can  be  trained  as  the  present 
generation  of  Christians  has  not  been  trained. 

We  do  not  think  that  we  are  exaggerating  the  truth 
one  iota  when  we  say  that  there  are  one  million  young 
people  in  the  Sunday  schools  of  our  land,  easily  sus- 
ceptible to  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  the 
claims  of  religion,  who  might,  within  a  single  year,  be 
converted  and  brought  into  our  churches,  if  there  were 
some  efficient  agency  for  their  Christian  nurture  and 
training  in  every  church. 

Statistics  are  stubborn  things ;  we  cannot  wink 
them  out  of  sight,  but  we  can  change  their  story 
from  one  of  disaster  to  one  of  victory  by  relying 
more  on  training  to  fill  our  churches  than  upon  con- 
quest. One  great  trouble  with  the  church  has  been 
that  it  has  depended  almost  exclusively  upon  con- 
quest. It  has  looked  with  complacency  upon  the 
figures  and  facts  which  tell  of  its  depletion,  and  has 
said,  "  Oh,  well,  it  is  all  right,  one  of  these  days  we 
will  have  a  great  revival.  It  is  a  time  of  declension 
just  now,  to  be  sure,  but  one  of  these  days  the  Lord 
will  raise  up  a  great  spiritual  general,  a  Nettleton,  or 
a  Finney,  or  a  Moody ;  we  will  institute  a  regular 


CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP   FOR    CHILDREN.  29 

warfare  upon  the  Evil  One  ;  sinners  will  be  converted 
to  Christ,  the  ranks  of  our  churches  will  be  swelled 
once  more,  and  a  great  company  of  captives  will  be 
dragged  at  Zion's  chariot  wheels."  What  nation  would 
neglect  its  own  children  and  rely  for  growth  on  con- 
quered foreigners  ?  Even  Napoleon,  king  of  conquest 
though  he  was,  was  wiser  than  this  Though  he  laid 
every  nation  under  tribute  to  France,  his  constant 
principle  was,  France  must  depend  upon  the  chil- 
dren born  upon  her  soil  for  her  strength  and  glory, 
rather  than  upon  the  annexation  of  alien  nations. 
"  No  nation  can  long  thrive  by  a  spirit  of  conquest," 
says  Dr.  Bushnell ;  *'  no  more  can  a  church.  There 
must  be  internal  growth.  Let  us  try  if  we  may 
not  train  up  our  children  in  the  way  they  should  go. 
Simply  this,  if  we  can  do  it,  will  make  the  church 
multiply  her  numbers  many  fold  more  rapidly  than 
now,  with  the  advantage  that  more  will  be  gained 
from  without  than  now." 

This,  then,  is  one  indication  of  the  need  of  Chris- 
tian nurture  within  the  church  :  that  the  church  is 
depleted,  except  in  times  of  special  revival,  and  that 
it  relies  for  its  strength  upon  conquest  from  without 
rather  than  upon  growth  from  within. 

The  need  of  greater  efforts  in  the  line  of  Christian 
nurture  is  also  shown  by  the  acknowledged  difficulty 
of  reaching  persons  in  mature  life.  Most  persons 
who  are  converted  to  Christ  are  converted  in  early 
life.  All  religious  statistics  bear  out  this  state- 
ment ;  and  yet,  with  this  undisputed  truth  staring 
him  in  the  face,  the  Christian  often  tries  to  turn  the 


JO        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

soul  to  God  only  after  it  has  become  old  and  hard- 
ened and  unimpressionable.  He  quite  reverses  the 
processes  of  nature,  and  uses  the  stiff,  brittle  mortar 
in  building  up  a  Christian  character,  and  strikes  his 
blows  upon  the  cold,  unyielding  iron,  and  tries  to 
bend  the  gnarled  and  toughened  oak  according  to  his 
will.  The  parent  and  Christian  teacher  very  often 
say,  practically,  "  My  little  boy,  my  little  girl,  you 
are  quite  too  small  to  be  a  Christian  now  ;  but  in 
about  ten  years,  after  you  have  been  for  a  while  a 
bad  boy,  a  dissipated  young  man,  a  light-headed,  friv. 
clous  young  woman, —  after  you  have  been  such  a 
one  for  a  certain  number  of  years,  then  some  powerful 
whirlwind  of  religious  experience  will  smite  you,  and 
you  will  be  dreadfully  sorry  for  your  sins,  and  then 
Christ  will  save  you  :  but  you  must  go  through  all 
this  experience;  you  must  do  something  wicked  to 
be  sorry  for  first ;  you  must  be  somewhat  bad  before 
you  can  be  very  good."  Not  that  any  one  says  this 
in  so  many  words  ;  nay,  any  one  would  be  shocked 
to  have  these  words  put  into  his  mouth  :  but  that  is 
practically  what  every  one  says  who  urges  children 
to  wait  until  they  are  older  and  more  experienced 
before  they  give  their  hearts  to  Him  who,  they 
are  old  enough  to  know,  died  for  them.  We  must 
remember  that  the  sapling  is  a  sapling  but  once  in 
its  lifetime,  and  all  the  strength  of  a  Hercules  can- 
not make  the  oak-tree  over  into  a  flexible  twig.  The 
boy  will  be  ten  years  old  but  once  in  his  life,  and 
when  the  flexible  age  is  once  passed  it  is  forever 
passed.     These,  then,  are  some  of  the  indications  of 


CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP    FOR    CHILDREN.  3 1 

the  need  of  greater  attention  to  the  conversion  and 
Christian  culture  of  young  people. 

Now,  what  are  some  of  the  outward  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  the  conversion  of  children  and  the  nurture  of 
child  Christians  ?  All  these  obstacles  may  be  grouped 
under  two  heads,  opposition  and  indifference,  —  the 
opposition  and  indifference  of  parents  and  teachers 
and  churches.  We  are  fully  aware  that  much  of  this 
opposition  is  not  intended  as  such,  but  it  is  none  the 
less  deadly.  We  know  that  many  parents  who  love 
their  children  dearly,  and  respect  the  cause  of  reli- 
gion, would  yet  hold  back  their  Christian  children 
from  an  open  profession  of  religion  because  of  what 
seemed  to  them  the  very  best  motives,  —  they  fear 
that  their  children  do  not  know  what  they  are  about, 
do  not  mean  what  they  say,  do  not  realize  what  a 
serious,  far-reaching  thing  it  is  to  be  a  Christian  ; 
and  we  sympathize  with  them  in  these  fears,  and 
see  in  them  oftentimes  only  the  excess  of  parental 
anxiety.  But  we  would  also  remind  them  that  the 
Bible  has  given  us  a  test,  and  only  one  test,  for  con- 
version, and  we  need  set  up  no  other,  — "  By  their 
fruits  shall  ye  know  them."  The  little  slender 
apple-tree  that  has  just  come  into  bearing  con- 
dition, and  whose  branches  hang  with  a  half-dozen 
apples,  can  be  tested  just  as  well  as  the  tree  that  is 
loaded  to  the  ground  with  fruit.  "What  fruit  are 
your  sons  and  daughters  and  Sunday-school  scholars 
bearing.?"  That  is  the  all-important  question  ;  not, 
"How  old  are  they  ?"  If  you  can  see  the  fruits  of 
the  Spirit  in  their  lives,  beware  how  you  treat  them 
as  other  than  the  children  of  God  ! 


32       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

Once  more,  the  opposition  of  parents  often  arises 
from  unreasonable  expectations  of  perfection  and 
growth  in  grace.  Said  one  parent  to  a  little  girl 
scarcely  a  dozen  years  old,  who  had  begun  to  serve 
God,  "  Now,  my  child,  if  you  are  a  Christian  I  shall 
never  expect  you  again  to  show  the  least  sign  of 
fretfulness  or  impatience  as  long  as  you  live ;  and  if 
you  do,  I  shall  conclude  that  you  are  deceived."  If 
some  great,  supernatural  being — an  archangel,  for 
example  —  should  take  that  w^oman  by  the  arm,  and 
say  to  her,  "  You  are  a  church  member  :  now  I  shall 
never  expect  to  see  the  least  imperfection  in  your 
character ;  and  if  I  observe  the  least  flaw  in  temper, 
in  disposition,  in  imagination,  or  in  word,  I  shall  con- 
clude that  you  are  deceived,"  we  wonder  how  she 
would  stand  the  test.  "  A  child,"  says  Dr.  Bush- 
nell,  "  acts  out  his  present  feeling,  the  feelings  of  the 
moment,  without  qualification  or  disguise ;  and  how, 
many  times,  would  all  of  us  appear  if  we  were  to  do 
the  same  }  "  We  should  expect  only  childlike  faith 
of  child  Christians.  A  boy  Christian  does  not  become 
a  gray-haired  patriarch  all  at  once.  We  should  hope 
that  he  would  love  his  skates  and  his  sled  and  his 
marbles  and  his  gun  still.  A  girl  Christian  does  not 
develop  into  a  conventional  matron  all  at  once.  We 
hope  she  would  not  discard  her  doll  and  her  picture 
book  and  her  games  until  she  ceases  to  be.  a  girl. 
The  boy  Christian  can  show  his  religion  by  playing 
marbles  fairly,  as  well  as  the  man  Christian  by  selling 
goods  fairly.  The  school-girl  can  show  her  religion 
by  the  soft  answer  and  by  docile  amiability,  as  well 


CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP   FOR  CHILDREN.  33 

as  her  mother  can  show  her  religion  by  her  gracious, 
lady-like  bearing  and  her  deeds  of  charity.  The 
restrained  temper,  the  ready  obedience,  fairness  in 
sports,  the  willingness  to  pray  and  to  read  the  Bible, 
the  love  of  children's  meetings,  —  these  should  all 
be  taken  as  indications  of  the  new  life  growing  up 
within  the  young  soul.  The  quick, parental  eye,  that 
is  neither  caustic  nor  over-critical,  will  very  soon 
discern  the  germs  of  grace  in  the  boy  or  girl  whose 
heart  is  touched. 

But,  says  another  parent,  '*  I  fear  my  child  will  not 
hold  out.  I  fear  the  present  indications  of  Christ- 
likeness  are  the  result  of  feeling  rather  than  deep- 
rooted  principle."  Perhaps  so  ;  there  is  danger  of 
this,  to  be  sure,  but  wait  and  see.  Do  not  pronounce 
it  mere  emotion  until  it  has  proved  itself  nothing 
more.  One  rough  footstep  on  the  tender  plant, 
just  sprouting  from  the  ground,  may  crush  it  to  the 
earth. 

The  parent  is  afraid  his  child  will  not  hold  out 
in  the  Christian  life.  ''The  Spirit  of  God,  then," 
he  seems  to  say,  "  is  not  eq'ual  to  such  a  task 
as  that  of  keeping  his  child  from  falling.  God 
can  sustain  the  bronzed  and  hardened  sinner ;  He 
can  keep  the  drunkard  from  falling ;  He  can  save 
the  red-handed  murderer's  soul  ;  and  He  can  put 
His  strong  bands  of  love  around  the  life  of  the  gay, 
frivolous  woman  of  the  world,  and  preserve  what 
little  there  is  left  of  her  heart  from  further  cor- 
ruption ;  but  to  keep  the  fresh  soul  of  a  compara- 
tively innocent  child  is  too  much  for  His  might.     It 


34        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

is  a  task  quite  beyond  the  Spirit's  power."  That  is 
what  the  parent  says  who  is  unwilling  that  his  child 
should  start  in  the  Christian  life  "for  fear  he  won't 
hold  out."  We  do  not  envy  the  feelings  of  that 
parent  who  looks  to-day  upon  his  grown-up  son,  hard, 
thoughtless,  indifferent,  unapproachable,  and  remem- 
bers that  once,  when  that  boy  was  younger,  he 
wanted  to  be  a  Christian,  but  by  home  indifference 
or  opposition  was  made  to  feel  that  he  was  too  young 
to  be  saved.  Is  not  the  Spirit  which  guided  little 
Samuel  and  the  young  Timothy,  —  yea,  and  with  rev- 
erence we  may  add,  the  heart  of  the  twelve-year-old 
Jesus,  —  is  not  that  Spirit  sufficient  for  the  same  work 
to-day  ?  Is  not  the  promise  unto  us  and  to  our  chil- 
drejt  which  says  that  the  Spirit  shall  be  poured  out 
upon  all  flesh,  so  that  your  sons  and  your  daughters 
shall  prophesy } 

Where,  in  the  word  of  God,  do  we  find  any  age  lim- 
itation to  the  work  of  conversion }  Surely,  if  there 
were  any  such  limitation,  it  would  be  mentioned.  We 
should  not  be  left  in  ignorance  upon  such  a  very 
important  subject.  Where  do  we  find  the  chapter 
and  verse  in  which  we  are  forbidden  to  look  for  and 
hope  for  and  pray  for  the  conversion  of  very  young 
people  }  Does  the  Bible  of  any  one  of  us  read,  ''  He 
which  converteth  the  sinner,  who  is  over  twenty-one 
years  old,  from  the  errors  of  his  way,  shall  save  a  soul 
from  death,  and  shall  hide  a  multitude  of  sins  }  "  Has 
any  one  a  new  revision  of  the  old  Word  which  tells 
him  that  "they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  shall 
shine  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever,    provided  that 


CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP    FOR    CHILDREN.  35 

those  whom  they  turn  are  grown  men  and  women"? 
Does  our  Bible  tell  us  that  ''  He  who  winneth  souls, 
who  have  lived  between  twenty  and  eighty  years  in 
sin,  is  wise  "  ?  We  do  not  find  any  such  limitations, 
or  hints  of  any  such  limitations,  in  the  Scriptures  ; 
but  we  do  find  by  implication  and  precept  the  truth 
taught  that  whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  king- 
dom of  God  as  a  little  child  shall  not  enter  therein, 
and  that  of  such  little  children  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

Not  only  the  Bible  but  universal  experience  leads 
us  to  hope  for  and  work  for  the  conversion  of  chil- 
dren. We  might,  had  we  space,  summon  a  cloud 
of  witnesses.  We  will  mention  but  a  few  distin- 
guished names.  Polycarp  was  converted  at  nine 
years  of  age,  and  was  able  to  say  when  led  to  mar- 
tyrdom, "  Eighty-and-six  years  have  I  served  Him, 
and  He  has  never  wronged  me."  Matthew  Henry, 
we  are  told,  was  converted  when  eleven  years  old. 
Dr.  Watts  when  nine.  Bishop  Hall  when  eleven,  and 
Robert  Hall  when  twelve.  What  parents,  by  prevent- 
ing their  children  from  confessing  Christ,  would  dar^ 
to  take  the  responsibility  of  preventing  a  Matthew 
Henry  or  a  Robert  Hall  from  blessing  the  world  ? 
We  do  not  know  who  are  in  our  families.  There 
may  be  a  Bishop  Hall,  there  may  be  an  Isaac  Watts 
in  one  of  these  homes.  At  any  rate,  the  sin  is  just 
as  great  of  keeping  back  any  true  believer,  however 
dull  of  intellect  or  weak  in  faith,  from  the  open  arms 
of  the  Saviour. 

Says   Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  "  It  is  no  uncom- 


36        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

mon  thing  for  children  of  seven  or  eight  years  of 
asre  to  have  received  more  mental  cultivation  than 
we  formerly  looked  for  at  twelve  or  thirteen.  What 
is  now  common  was  once  thought  a  prodigy  in  the 
development  of  mind.  ...  I  will  only  remark  that 
I  have  known  a  child  at  nine  years  of  age  better 
acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of  religion  than  two 
thirds  of  our  church  members,  and  that  I  have  been 
well  acquainted  with  at  least  one  case  of  conversion 
between  five  and  six  years  of  age." 

Says  Mr.  Spurgeon  (this  was  written  some  years 
ago,  but  we  know,  from  recent  utterances,  that  his 
sentiments  have  not  changed  on  this  subject),  "  I 
have,  during  the  last  year,  received  forty  or  fifty 
children  into  church  membership.  Among  those  I 
have  had  at  any  time  to  exclude  from  the  church,  out 
of  a  church  of  twenty-seven  hundred  members,  I  have 
never  had  to  exclude  a  single  one  who  was  received 
whilst  yet  a  child.  Teachers  and  superintendents 
should  not  merely  believe  in  the  possibility  of  early 
conversion,  but  in  the  frequency  of  it." 

Says  Dr.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  *'  I  solemnly  believe 
in  the  conversion  of  children.  I  cannot  say  how 
young  they  may  be  brought  to  make  an  open  profes- 
sion of  their  faith  and  love  for  Christ,  but  I  have  seen 
as  manifest  evidences  of  the  new  birth  in  children  of 
six  and  eight  years  of  age  as  I  have  ever  seen  in  an 
adult.  Shall  I  turn  back  those  whom  God  Himself 
hath  brought  }  Shall  I  refuse  those  whom  God  Him- 
self has  accepted  t  Never  !  We  are  in  an  age  when 
the  church  is  to  take  the  children,  nurse  them,  train 


CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP    FOR    CHILDREN.  37 

them,  educate  them,  protect  them,  and  prepare  them 
for  the  work  appointed  for  them  ;  and  under  no  cir- 
cumstances to  repel  from  the  highest  form  of  a  Chris- 
tian profession  the  child  that  can  give  a  fair  account 
of  the  faith  of  its  little  heart  in  a  divine  Saviour,  and 
manifest  clearly  and  continuously  the  power  of  the 
love  of  Jesus  shed  abroad  in  that  heart  by  the  Holy 
Spirit." 

But  the  church  does  not  need  to  go  to  ancient 
history  or  to  modern  divines  for  encouragement  or 
countenance  in  this  work  ;  for  the  sanctified  common- 
sense  of  its  united  membership  tells  it  that  if  the 
children  of  to-day  are  secured  for  the  church,  the 
church  of  the  future  is  secure. 


3"8  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

THE   YOUNG   PEOPLe's    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR. 

Its  Origin.  —  Its  Constitution.  —  Its  Objects:  To  promote  con- 
stant Confession  of  Christ,  and  earnest  Christian  Endeavor.  — 
Its  Spirit:  The  Spirit  of  Aggressive,  Spiritual,  Evangehcal 
Christianity.  —  Its  Rules:  Are  they  too  strict? 

With  these  Biblical  examples,  these  adaptations 
of  child  life  to  the  Christian  life,  these  needs  of  the 
church  and  encouragements  to  labor  for  the  conver- 
sion of  the  young  in  mind,  the  practical  question 
arises,  "  What  shall  be  done  ?  "  It  is  easy  to  suggest 
defects,  to  deplore  evils,  to  say  things  should  be  dif- 
ferent ;  the  more  difficult  matter  is  to  devise  some 
practical  remedy.  What  is  needed  is  evidently  some 
well-defined  plan  of  work,  which  shall  awaken  the 
susceptible  minds  of  children  to  the  need  of  salva- 
tion, and  shall  train  them  patiently  and  unweariedly, 
day  by  day  and  week  by  week,  for  Christian  useful- 
ness,- thus  making  early  church  membership  natural 
and  safe.  Such  an  agency  the  Young  People's  Soci- 
ety of  Christian  Endeavor  is  designed  to  be,  and  has 
proved  itself  to  be  in  many  cases.  It  was  begun  in 
feebleness  and  self-distrust,  and  its  promoters  have 
endeavored  simply  to  follow  the  Divine  leading  and 
the  dictates  of  common-sense.     The  animus  and  pur- 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  39 

pose  of  this  organization  cannot  better  be  shown 
than  by  relating  the  way  in  which  it  originated. 

Some  personal  allusions  will  be  excused,  perhaps, 
in  this  brief  recital. 

In  the  winter  of  1880-8 1,  in  connection  with 
some  Sunday-school  prayer  meetings,  quite  a  large 
number  of  boys  and  girls  of  my  congregation  seemed 
hopefully  converted.  Their  ages  ranged  from  ten 
to  eighteen,  most  of  them  being  over  fourteen  years 
old.  They  were  bright,  earnest,  natural  young  Chris- 
tians, with  all  the  faults  and  all  the  virtues  and  prom- 
ise of  ordinary  boys  and  girls. 

The  questions  became  serious  ones,  How  shall  this 
band  be  trained,  how  shall  they  be  set  to  work,  how 
shall  they  be  fitted  for  church  membership  ?  Is  it 
safe,  with  only  the  present  agencies  at  work,  to  admit 
them  to  church  membership  ?  These  questions  were 
pressing  for  an  immediate  answer,  for  a  few  months 
of  inaction  and  sloth  might  blast  many  of  these  bud- 
ding Christian  characters.  Stimulated  and  guided  by 
an  article  of  Dr.  Cuyler's  concerning  a  young  peo- 
ple's association  in  his  church,  I  asked  the  young 
Christians  to  my  house  to  consider  the  formation  of 
a  society  for  Christian  work.  They  responded  in 
large  numbers  ;  and  after  talking  the  matter  over, 
finding  them  willing  and  eager  to  enter  upon  active 
religious  duties,  we  formed  a  Society  of  Christian 
Endeavor  of  some  sixty  members,  all  of  whom  signed 
their  names  to  the  strinsfent  rules  of  the  constitu- 
tion,  after  having  them  fully  explained,  and  appar. 
ently  with  an  understanding  of  their  purport.     Thus 


40  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

it  will  be  seen  that  this  movement  originated  in  an 
hour  of  practical  necessity  and  to  meet  a  felt  need ; 
and  it  has  been,  we  think,  from  the  beginning,  a 
humble,  tentative,  flexible  effort  to  train  young 
Christians  for  usefulness  and  service  in  the  church 
of  God.  No  one  has  had  a  hobby  to  ride.  No  pre- 
conceived plan  has  been  rigidly  adhered  to.  No  as- 
sumption of  wisdom  or  infallibility  has  been  indulged 
in.  It  has  not  been  claimed  that  this  is  the  only 
way  or  the  best  way  to  train  young  Christians  ;  only 
that  it  is  one  way  which  has  received  some  signal 
marks  of  the  Divine  approval.  Perhaps  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  purpose  and  object  of  the  society  can  best 
be  derived  from  the  constitution,  which  is  substan- 
tially the  same  as  the  one  that  evening  adopted,  and 
which  we  here  submit. 

CONSTITUTION 

OF   THB 

Williston  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor, 

PORTLAND,     ME. 


CONSTITUTION. 

NAME. 

This  society  shall  be  called  the   Williston  Young  Peo- 
ple's Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

object. 
Its  object  shall  be  to  promote  an  earnest  Christian  life  among 
its  members,  to   increase   their  mutual  acquaintance,   and  to 
make  them  more  useful  in  the  service  of  God. 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  4 1 


MEMBERSHIP. 

The  members  shall  consist  of  two  classes,  Active  and 
Associate. 

Active  Members.  —  The  Active  members  of  this  society 
shall  consist  of  all  young  people  who  sincerely  desire  to 
accomplish  the  results  above  specified.  They  shall  become 
members  upon  being  elected  by  the  society,  and  upon  signing 
their  names  to  the  book,  thereby  agreeing  to  live  up  to  the  re- 
quirements of  the  Constitution. 

Associate  Members.  —  Any  young  person  who  is  not  at  pres- 
ent willing  to  be  considered  a  decided  Christian  may  join  this 
society  as  an  Associate  member.  Such  a  one  shall  have  the 
privileges  of  the  society,  and  shall  have  the  special  prayers  and 
sympathy  of  the  Active  members,  but  shall  be  excused  from 
taking  part  in  the  prayer  meetings.  It  is  hoped  and  expected 
that  all  Associate  members  will  in  time  become  Active  members, 
and  the  society  will  work  and  pray  for  this  end. 

The  Lookout  Committee  shall,  by  personal  interview,  satisfy 
themselves  of  the  fitness  of  young  persons  to  become  members 
of  this  society,  and  shall  propose  their  names  at  least  one  week 
before  their  election  by  the  society. 


OFFICERS. 

The  oflEicers  of  this  society  shall  be  a  President,  Vice-Pres- 
ident, and  Secretary,  whose  duties  shall  be  those  which  usually 
fall  to  such  officers. 

There  shall  also  be  a  Prayer-Meeting  Committee,  a  Lookout 
Committee,  a  Social  Committee,  a  Missionary  Committee,  a 
Sunday-School  Committee,  a  Relief  Committee,  and  a  Flower 
Committee,  each  consisting  of  five  members. 

DUTIES    OF   OFFICERS, 

The  duties  of  the  President,  Vice-President,  and  Secretary 
shall  be  those  that  usually  fall  to  such  officers. 


42  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 


THE   PRAYER-MEETING   COMMITTEE, 

This  committee  sliall  have  in  charge  the  Friday-evening 
prayer  meeting,  shall  see  that  a  topic  is  assigned,  and  a  leader 
provided  for  each  meeting. 

THE   LOOKOUT    COMMITTEE. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Lookout  Committee  to  bring  new 
members  into  the  society,  to  introduce  them  to  the  work,  and 
to  the  other  members,  and  to  affectionately  look  after  and  reclaim 
any  that  seem  to  be  indifferent  to  their  duties. 

THE   SOCIAL   COMMITTEE. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Social  Committee  to  provide  for 
the  mutual  acquaintance  of  the  members  by  occasional  sociables, 
for  which  any  entertainment  that  may  be  desired  may  be  pro- 
vided. 

THE   MISSIONARY   COMMITTEE. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Missionary  Committee  to  raise 
money  for  benevolent  objects  by  voluntary  contributions  or  by 
entertainments,  to  distribute  the  same  according  to  their  best 
judgment,  and  to  account  for  all  money  thus  raised  to  the  society. 
A  sum  not  exceeding  one  fourth  of  all  the  money  thus  raised 
may,  if  deemed  necessary,  be  used  for  the  current  expenses  of 
the  society.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  also  to 
provide  for  an  occasional  missionary  meeting,  and  to  interest 
the  members  of  the  society,  in  all  ways,  in  missionary  topics. 

THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   COMMITTEE. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  endeavor  to  bring 
into  our  Sunday  school  those  who  do  not  attend  elsewhere,  and 
to  co-operate  with  the  superintendent  and  officers  of  the  school 
in  any  ways  which  they  may  suggest  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Sunday  school. 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  43 


THE   RELIEF   COMMITTEE. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  seek  out  cases  of 
sickness  and  suffering  among  the  members  of  the  society,  to 
bring  them  to  the  notice  of  the  other  members,  and,  so  far  as 
possible,  to  relieve  those  who  may  be  in  want. 

THE   FLO\VER   COMMITTEE. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  provide  flowers  fcr 
the  pulpit  on  Sunday,  whenever  practicable,  and  afterward  to 
distribute  the  same  to  the  sick,  whenever  it  may  be  possible  to 
do  so. 

REPORTS   OF   COMMITTEES. 

Each  committee  shall  make  a  report  to  the  society  at  the 
monthly  business  meeting,  concerning  the  work  of  the  past 
month. 

BUSINESS   MEETINGS    AND   ELECTIONS. 

Business  meetings  can  be  held  at  the  close  of  the  Friday- 
evening  meeting,  or  at  any  other  time,  in  accordance  with  the 
call  of  the  President.  An  election  of  officers  and  committees 
shall  be  held  once  in  six  months.  Names  may  be  proposed  by 
a  Nominating  Committee  appointed  by  the  President. 

THE   PRAYER  MEETING. 

//  is  expected  that  all  the  Active  7nevtbers  of  this  society  will 
be  present  at  every  meeting  unless  detained  by  some  absolute 
necessity^  and  that  each  one  will  take  some  part,  however  slight, 
in  every  meeting.  The  meetings  shall  be  held  just  one  hour; 
and,  at  the  close,  some  time  may  be  taken  for  introduction  and 
social  intercourse,  if  desired.  Once  each  month  an  experience 
meeting  shall  be  held,  at  which  each  member  shall  speak  concern- 
ing his  progress  in  the  Christiatt  life  for  the  past  month.  If 
any  one  chooses,  he  can  express  his  feelings  by  an  appropriate 
verse  of  Scripture.  //  is  expected  that  if  any  one  is  obliged  to 
be  absefit  from  this  experience  meeting,  he  will  send  the  reason 
for  such  absence  by  some  one  who  attends. 


44  THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

At  the  close  of  the  monthly  experience  meeting,  the  roll  shall 
be  called,  and  the  response  of  the  Active  members  who  are 
present  shall  be  considered  a  renewed  expression  of  allegiance 
to  Christ;  and  if  any  member  of  the  society  is  absent  from  the 
monthly  experience  meeting,  and  fails  to  send  an  excuse,  the 
Lookout  Committee  is  expected  to  take  the  name  of  such  a 
one,  and  in  a  kindly  and  brotherly  spirit  ascertain  the  reason 
of  the  absence.  //  any  7ne7nber  of  this  society  is  absent  and 
unexczised  from  three  consecutive  experience  meetings^  such  a 
one  ceases  to  be  a  mei?iber  of  the  society^  and  his  name  shall  be 
stricketi  from  the  list  of  nieinbers. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Any  other  committees  may  be  added  and  duties  assumed  by 
this  society  which  may  in  the  future  seem  best. 

This  Constitution  can  be  amended  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of 
the  society,  provided  that  notice  of  such  amendment  is  given 
in  writing,  and  recorded  by  the  Secretary,  at  least  one  week 
before  the  amendment  is  acted  upon. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  Constitution  that  the  sole 
purpose  of  this  organization  is  to  promote,  in  every- 
way possible,  the  7'eligioics  life  of  its  members.  It  is 
not  a  literary  society,  although  if  it  is  thought  best  in 
any  particular  instance  to  promote  the  attractiveness 
of  the  society,  one  evening  of  the  week  may  be  set 
apart  for  literary  exercises  under  its  auspices,  pro- 
vided these  exercises  in  no  way  interfere  with  the 
religious  Hfe  of  the  members.  It  is  not  a  social  club 
for  young  people,  although  once  each  month,  at  least, 
there  should  be  a  social  gathering  where  the  boys 
and  girls  may  be  assured  of  a  good  time ;  but  this  is 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  making  the  distinctively  and 
avowedly  religious  aims  of  the  society  more  attrac- 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  45 

tive.  In  short,  the  sole  object  of  the  organization  is 
to  make  religion,  child  religion,  a  natural,  rational, 
permanent  part  of  rhe  child's  life ;  to  make  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  to  appear  the  children's  friend,  and  His 
active,  acknowledged  service  something  to  be  entered 
into  and  enjoyed  by  all  young  persons  as  heartily, 
zealously,  and  constantly  as  their  studies  and  their 
games. 

To  be  more  specific,  what  in  detail  are  the  objects 
of  this  society  ? 

First,  it  will  be  seen  that  one  great  object  of  the 
organization  is  to  provide  a  natural  and  pleasant  channel 
through  which  yoimg  people  and  even  little  children 
may  every  week  acknowledge  Christ. 

Active  membership  implies,  according  to  the  con- 
stitution, that  one  is  trying  to  be  a  Christian,  and 
every  one  that  joins  it  promises  and  expects  to  per- 
form a  Christian's  duty.  The  very  act  of  joining, 
where  the  rules  are  strictly  lived  up  to,  is  a  confes- 
sion of  allegiance  to  Christ. 

In  the  second  place ^  some  such  agency  as  this  gives 
the  young  people  something  to  do  ;  and  as  every  pastor 
knows,  nothing  stimulates  the  budding  activity  of 
the  Christian  like  having  some  means  of  expending 
his  energies. 

In  the  third  place  y  another  great  object  of  this  society 
is  to  give  the  pastor  and  older  Christian  friends  of  the 
young  people  an  opportunity  of  knowing  constantly  their 
religious  status.  No  one  who  belongs  to  this  society 
need  ever  drift  away  from  the  anchorage  of  a  reli- 
gious hope  without  the  fact  being  very  soon  known 


46        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

to  older  friends,  who  can  hope  by  wise  and  loving 
counsels  to  bring  back  the  wanderer  to  his  old 
mooring. 

A  fourth  object  of  this  society  is  to  form  a  stepping- 
stone  to  church  membership  ;  or,  to  vary  the  figure,  to 
make  a  temporary  shelter,  into  which  the  yoimg  convert 
may  be  immediately  received  and  kept  in  comparative 
safety  from  tJie  ivaring  lion,  until  the  church  is  willing 
to  receive  him  into  its  fold. 

A  fifth  object  of  this  association  is  to  increase  the 
efficiency  of  its  members  for  future  service  in  the  church 
of  CJirist. 

We  will  not  enlarge  upon  these  five  objects  of  the 
society,  since  we  shall  have  something  further  to  say 
upon  this  subject  in  another  connection  and  iA  tha 
next  chapter,  but  will  proceed  to  say  a  word  about 
its  spirit.  Its  whole  spirit  and  tendency,  so  far  as 
we  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  is  directly  in  the 
line  of  aggressive,  evangelical,  spiritual  Christianity. 
It  does  not  assume  that  the  child  is  an  angel  by 
nature,  who  only  needs  a  little  coddling  and  encour- 
agement in  order  to  find  its  wings.  It  assumes  that 
the  child  needs  to  be  converted  as  much  as  the  older 
person  ;  that  while  his  sense  of  sin  may  not  be  as 
deep  or  his  rapture  at  deliverance  from  sin  as  fer- 
vid, that  yet  there  is  an  experience  of  conversion  as 
appropriate  to  the  child  as  to  his  father.  It  assumes 
that  the  conversion  of  a  child  is  as  much  the  work 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  as  the  conversion  of  the  oldest 
sinner ;  and  yet,  while  this  is  true,  it  seems  possible, 
owing   to  the  superior  susceptibility  and  innocence 


THE    SOCIETY   OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  4/ 

of  the  child's  nature,  in  the  same  time  and  with  the 
same  human  efforts  to  lead  ten  children  to  Christ 
where  one  adult  is  brought  to  him.  This  society 
seeks  evidence  of  the  child's  true  conversion,  and  to 
promote  his  growth  in  grace.  In  principle  and  prac- 
tice this  organization  honors  the  church  ;  places  it 
at  the  head  of  all  agencies,  as  the  divinely  appointed 
one  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world,  and  en- 
deavors to  work,  in  a  modest  way,  as  its  humble 
assistant  among  the  young.  Such,  in  a  few  words, 
seems  to  us  to  be  the  spirit  of  this  organization. 

As  to  its  Rules.  —  These  rules  are  strict,  and  are 
meant  to  be  strict.  They  provide  that  only  those 
'who  give  good  evidence  of  conversion  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  shall  be  active  members  of  the  society. 
The  associate  members,  too,  while  Christian  char- 
acter is  not  required  of  them,  do,  thereby,  in  becom- 
ing associate  members,  put  themselves  directly  under 
religious  influences,  and  by  the  very  terms  of  the 
constitution  indicate  that  they  are  willing  to  have 
the  prayers  of  the  active  members  especially  offered 
for  them.  The  committees  are  held  strictly  to  their 
respective  labors,  for  each  one  is  expected  to  report 
once  each  month  as  to  the  duties  performed  during 
the  past  four  weeks.  But  the  peculiarity,  and,  to 
a  large  extent  the  efficiency,  of  this  society  depends 
upon  its  prayer-meeting  rules  and  their  observance. 

Let  us  repeat  this  section  of  the  constitution 
relating  to  the  prayer  meeting  with  emphasis,  for  in 
proportion  as  these  rules  are  enforced  and  lived  up 
to  will  this  organization  be  of  real  value. 


48  THE   CHILDREN    AND   THE    CHURCH. 

The  Prayer  Meeting. — //  is  expected  that  all  the 
active  members  of  this  society  will  be  present  at  every 
meetings  zmless  detained  by  some  absohUe  necessity, 
and  that  each  one  will  take  some  part,  however  slight, 
in  every  meeting.  The  meetings  shall  be  held  just 
one  hour,  and  at  the  close  some  time  may  be  taken 
for  introduction  and  social  intercourse,  if  desired. 
Once  each  month  an  experience  meeting  shall  be  held, 
at  which  each  member  shall  speak  concerning  his  prog- 
ress in  the  Christian  life  for  the  past  month.  If  any 
one  chooses,  he  can  express  his  feelings  by  an  appro- 
priate verse  of  Scripture.  It  is  expected  that  if  any 
one  is  obliged  to  be  absent  from  this  experience  meeting, 
he  will  send  the  reason  for  snch  absence  by  some  one 
who  attends. 

If  any  member  of  the  society  is  absent  from  the 
monthly  experience  meetings,  and  fails  to  send  an 
excuse,  the  Lookout  Committee  is  expected  to  take 
the  name  of  such  a  one,  and,  in  a  kindly  and  brotherly 
spirit,  ascertain  the  reason  of  the  absence.  If  any 
member  of  this  society  is  absent  and  unexcused  from 
three  consecutive  experience  meetings,  such  a  one 
ceases  to  be  a  member  of  the  society,  and  his  name 
shall  be  stricken  from  the  list  of  members. 

This  is  a  voluntary  society.  «  No  young  person 
who  fears  these  rules  or  disapproves  of  them  need 
subscribe  to  them.  But  if  he  does  join,  and  volun- 
tarily accepts  and  signs  this  constitution,  he  can  be 
held  to  its  rules.  He  has  then  himself  agreed  to 
attend  every  meeting  ;  and,  if  he  is  habitually  or  fre- 
quently absent  without  excuse,  the  Lookout  Com- 


THE    SOCIETY   OF    CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR.  49 

mittee  has  a  right  to  find   out   the  reason  for  such 
absence. 

Once  a  month,  with  more  than  usual  strictness, 
the  rules  require  every  member  to  be  present,  and 
the  roll  is  called  to  find  if  any  are  absent  without 
excuse.  Those  who  are  then  absent  from  the  monthly 
experience  meeting  are  interviewed  by  the  Lookout 
Comm.ittee  before  the  next  meeting,  and  it  is  found 
that  when  this  precaution  is  taken,  the  same  ones  are 
rarely  absent  from  two  consecutive  monthly  meet- 
ings ;  while  if  they  are  absent  from  three  in  succession, 
and  take  no  pains  to  ask  for  an  excuse,  the  evidence 
is  quite  conclusive  that  such  no  longer  deserve  to  be 
reckoned  as  active  members,  and  their  names  are 
dropped  from  the  roll.  The  society  is  thus  contin- 
ually self-weeded,  and  cannot  contain  for  any  great 
length  of  time  many  who  are  not  genuine  Christians. 
All  are  expected,  too,  as  we  have  seen,  to  take  some 
part  in  every  meeting,  and  voluntarily  agree,  when 
they  join  the  society,  at  least  to  repeat  a  verse  in 
the  weekly  meeting. 

This  is  the  principal  and  distinguishing  rule  of  the 
organization,  and  we  may  be  pardoned  for  referring 
to  it  again,  and  for  dwelling  upon  it  at  some  length, 
since  it  marks  the  difference  between  this  and  other 
societies  of  the  kind,  and  would  frequently,  we  think 
make  all  the  difference  between  a  real,  live  young 
people's  meeting  and  the  old  young  people's  meet- 
ings or  young  old  people's  meetings  which  exist  in 
so  many  churches. 

The   rules   require,   too,   that  the  Prayer-Meeting 


50  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

Committee  shall  see  that  topics  and  leaders  are  pro- 
vided for  every  meeting;  that  the  Social  Committee 
shall  furnish  games,  readings,  music,  etc.,  for  a 
monthly  sociable ;  and  that  the  Lookout  Committee, 
most  important  of  all,  shall,  as  before  hinted,  not 
only  find  new  members  for  the  society,  and  decide 
upon  their  fitness  to  join,  but  shall  also  keep  a 
watchful  eye  on  every  member  who  has  signed  the 
constitution,  to  see  that  each  one  lives  up  to  his 
voluntarily  assumed  religious  duties. 

''Are  not  these  rules  too  strict.^"  we  hear  some 
one  say.  In  fact,  a  great  many  persons  have  written 
us  to  this'  effect,  — that  in  their  churches  it  would 
never  do  to  have  such  stringent,  iron-clad  rules  for 
the  prayer  meeting,  requiring  attendance  and  parti- 
cipation. But  why  not  ?  If  a  young  person  is  a 
Christian,  is  it  pledging  himself  to  endure  too  much 
hardness  as  a  good  soldier  to  attend  a  prayer  meet- 
ing once  a  week,  when  not  absolutely  prevented,  and 
to  take  some  slight  part  in  every  meeting  ?  Is  not 
the  church  too  lax  in  its  requirements  of  its  con- 
verts I  Does  it'  not  expect  too  little  of  them  ? 
There  is  no  room  for  the  spirit  of  heroism  of  old, 
except  in  the  faithfulness  and  zeal  with  which  these 
little  duties  are  performed  :  shall  we  not,  then, expect 
and  demand  that  these  Christian  duties  shall  be  per- 
formed by  the  young  convert,  even  at  the  risk  of  per- 
sonal discomfort  and  at  the  sacrifice  of  personal  ease  ? 

Have  they  any  right  to  be  calle-d  the  followers 
of  Christ,  to  say  nothing  of  being  the  spiritual  de- 
scendants of  Paul  and  Peter  and  Polycarp  and  Lati- 


THE    SOCIETY  OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  5  I 

mer  and  Huss  and  Luther,  unless  they  are  willing 
to   pledge   themselves    to  these   ''  iron-clad  rules  "  ? 
Again,  unless  some  such  rules  are  adopted  and  ad- 
hered to,  we  think  any  society  of  this  kind  has  a 
very  poor  chance  for  a  long  or  vigorous  life.     The 
prayer  meeting  is  not  only  the  pulse  and   the  ther- 
mometer of  such  an  organization,  it  is,  in  some  sense, 
the  life-blood  itself ;  and  when  it  dies  or  flags,  the 
society  dies  or  flags.     So  long,  then,  as  it  is  the  gen- 
erally expected  thing  for  all  the  members  to  take  part 
in  every  meeting,  it  will   be  comparatively  easy  for 
each  one  to  take  some  part ;  but  when  it  is  not  ex- 
pected or  required,  some  excuse  will  occur  every  week 
to  the  great  majority  of  young  Christians  why  they 
should  not  take  part  in  that  particular  meeting,  and 
very  soon  it  will  be  left  to  the  ready-tongued  or  the 
peculiarly  conscientious,  until  at  last  it  will  degener- 
ate into  a  meeting  engaged  in  by  few  and  interesting 
to  none.     Still,  though  something  is   required   from 
each,  a  very  little  is  accepted  as  fulfilling  the  require- 
ments :    the   simplest    word,   the    shortest    verse    of 
Scripture,   is   considered  sufficient  ;   and   a  mere   re- 
quest to  be  excused  from  attendance  from  the  expe- 
rience   meeting,    showing   that   the   absent    member 
thous^ht  of  the  meetmsf  and  considered  himself  bound 
by  the    regulations,   is    always    granted.       It   is   not 
difficult  for  the  youngest  Christian,  who  is  truly  in 
earnest,  to  fulfil  all  the  duties  which  he  voluntarily 
assumes.     The  dangers  which  may  be  apprehended 
from  this   constant,   compulsory,   oral    confession  of 
Christ  will  be  treated  in  another  chapter. 


52       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER     V. 

THE    YOUNG    PEOPLE'S     SOCIETY     OF     CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR. 

How  it  fits  Children  for  Church  Membership. — A  Half-Way 
House  to  the  Church.  —  A  Training  School  within  the 
Church.  —  A  Watch-To wer  for  the  Church. 

We  have  already  related  how  this  society  seeks 
the  Christian  nurture  of  the  young  people  who  volun- 
tarily join  its  ranks.  Let  us  attempt  to  explain  how 
it  seeks  to  make  church  membership  safe  and  useful 
for  the  youngest  Christians  who  come  under  its 
influences. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  Jialf-way  house  to  the  cJiurch. 
There  is  always  a  dangerous  interval  between  the 
conversion  of  the  child  and  his  reception  into  the 
church.  In  fact,  to  the  older  Christian,  this  interval 
is  always  attended  with  peril.  As  some  one  has 
expressed  it,  *'  The  devil  almost  always  has  a  severe 
tussle  with  the  Christian  before  he  lets  him  join 
God's  earthly  people."  But  with  young  people  this 
period  is  bristling  with  dangers.  Children  usually 
are  obliged  to  wait  longer  than  grown  people  to 
prove  their  discipleship,  before  being  received  into 
full  communion  by  the  people  of  God.  Sometimes 
they  may  be  put  off  months  or  years  before  the  con- 


THE   SOCIETY   OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  53 

servative  church  committee  will  consider  them  suit- 
able candidates.  Sometimes  their  parents  may  re- 
strain them,  from  mistaken  notions  of  what  the 
Christian  life  demands  of  a  child,  or  of  what  church 
membership  involves.  Very  often,  if  left  to  them- 
selves, the  terrors  of  the  "examination"  and  the 
shrinking  from  public  appearance  would  overcome 
the  desire  of  the  young  disciple  to  acknowledge  his 
Master  before  the  world.  The  longer  he  is  restrained 
by  any  of  these  causes,  the  harder  it  becomes  for 
him  to  take  this  important  step,  the  less  necessary 
it  seems  to  him  month  by  month  ;  and  at  last,  with 
hardened  conscience  and  calloused  sensibilities,  he 
decides  to  remain  out  of  the  church,  which  at  first 
he  desired  to  join.  The  child  Christian  who,  without 
special  methods  of  religious  training,  spends  the  first 
year  of  his  new  life  outside  of  the  church,  is  in  very 
great  danger  of  never  joining  the  church. 

There  are  thousands  of  men  and  wcmen — one 
meets  them  everywhere  —  who  will  tell  you  that, 
when  they  were  young,  they  were  convicted  of  sin, 
and,  as  they  thought,  gave  their  hearts  to  the  Saviour, 
but  no  one  encouraged  them  to  go  any  farther,  the 
church  door  was  practically  barred  to  them,  they 
drifted  farther  and  farther  away  from  it,  they  became 
careless  and  indifferent,  and  their  early  love  for  the 
Saviour  became  only  a  pleasing  childish  dream. 

Now,  what  can  we  do  for  these  lambs  of  the  flock  ? 
Shall  we  condemn  them  to  stay  outside  of  the  fold 
for  three,  six,  or  twelve  months,  the  very  months 
when  they  most  need  shelter  and  warmth,  without 


54  THE    CHILDREN    AJ^D    THE    CHURCH. 

making  any  provision  for  their  remaining  near  the 
fold,  so  that  they  may  enter  when  its  doors  are 
opened  ?  Has  there  not  been  a  fatal  gap,  right  here, 
in  too  many  cases,  between  conversion  and  church 
membership  ? 

To  bridge  this  gap,  to  form  a  half-way  house  to 
the  church,  is  one  object  of  this  society.  Into  its 
membership  the  child  Christian  can  be  at  once 
received,  as  soon  as  he  gives  to  the  Lookout  Com- 
mittee credible  evidence  of  conversion  to  Christ. 
To  seek  and  gain  admission  to  this  society,  in  which 
are  so  many  of  his  own  age,  is  no  dreaded  ordeal. 
By  joining  it  he  confesses  to  a  limited  circle  that  he 
has  a  Christian's  hope,  and  thus  makes  the  supreme 
confession,  which  joining  the  church  implies,  easy 
and  natural  and  almost  certain.  At  the  same  time, 
it  should  be  plainly  impressed  upon  the  young  Chris- 
tian that  this  society  is  not  the  goal ;  that  it  is  only 
a  half-way  house,  only  a  temporary  shelter ;  and  that, 
as  soon  as  church  committee  and  parents  think  it 
safe  to  receive  him,  he  is  to  stand  up  before  the 
great  congregation  and  take  upon  him  the  vows  of 
God's  people. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Society  of  Christian 
Endeauor  is  a  training  school  witJdn  the  church.  It 
is  not  intended  that  the  young  Christian  should 
cease  to  be  a  member  of  this  society  as  soon  as  he 
becomes  a  member  of  the  church.  In  fact,  his  chief 
usefulness  in  the  society  then  begins  ;  for  he  feels 
an  added  responsibility,  and  knows  that  he  is  looked 
upon  by  others  as  one  who  has  taken  double  vow.* 


THE    SOCIETY  OF   CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  55 

of  allegiance  to  Christ,  and  is  regarded  more  as  an 
example  by  still  younger  Christians  who  are  not  yet 
church  members.     Every  week  the  evening  comes 
when   he  must,  in   some  brief  way,  renew  his  alle- 
giance to  Christ.     The  interests  of  the  society,  he 
feels,  as  well  as  his  own  growth  in  the  Christian  life, 
depend  upon   his   faithfulness ;   and    the   feeling   of 
responsibility  and  usefulness  in  his    Lord's   service 
develops  his  Christian  life  as  nothing  else  can  do. 
Perhaps   the   trembling  young    disciple    begins    by 
repeating  in  his  weekly  meeting  a  verse  of  Scripture, 
for   at   least   as   much  as  this  is  required  of   every 
one  ;    this   accustoms  him  to  the  sound  of  his  own 
voice,  and  soon  he  is  able  to  add  to  his  Scripture 
verse  a  word  or  two  of  his  own.     There  are  many  in 
the  society  who  have  no  more  experience  than  him- 
self, and  whose  words  are  just  as  stumbling  as  his 
own,  so  he  has  courage  to  persevere.     Since  some- 
thing is  expected  and  required  of  all,  it  soon  becomes 
the  customary  thing  to  take  part  in  meeting,  and 
what  is  customary  and  usual  soon  loses  its  terrors. 
By  and  by  the  leader  of  the  meeting  calls  on  him  to 
offer  prayer,  or  else  of  his  own  accord  he  engages 
in   his    first,  halting,  public    prayer,    and    gradually 
develops  into  one  of  the  leaders  and  supporters  of 
the  meetings.     His  pastor  will  find,  too,  that  his  use- 
fulness is  not  confined  to  the  young  people's  meet- 
ing, but  that  at  the  regular  church  prayer  meetings 
he  is  present,  and  ready  for  any  work  he  is  called 
upon  to  do.     At  least  this  has  been  the  experience 
of  many  pastors  ;  and  boys  who  have  had  but  a  few 


56  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

months*  training  in  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
have  developed  into  earnest,  faithful  workers  in  all 
departments  of  prayer-meeting  effort. 

The  meetings  of  this  society  should  be  led,  not  by 
the  pastor  or  deacons  of  the  church,  but  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  society.  Even  the  youngest  boy  can  sit 
in  the  leader's  chair,  give  out  the  hymns,  and  read 
the  Scripture  lesson  for  the  evening  ;  and  his  very 
youth  and  inexperience  will  lead  the  others  to  be 
more  prompt  in  coming  to  his  assistance,  and  in  pro- 
moting "a  good  meeting."  This  training  is  invalu- 
able in  giving  confidence,  and  willingness  to  under- 
take similar  duties  in  the  future. 

But  not  only  in  the  prayer  meeting  does  this 
society  serve  as  a  training  school  for  the  church. 
Many  of  its  officers  should  be  from  the  ranks  of  its 
younger  membership.  Perhaps  the  president  should 
be  one  of  the  maturer  young  men,  and  one  or  two 
on  each  of  the  committee  should  have  the  best  judg- 
ment and  the  largest  experience  attainable,  but  other 
members  may  be  from  the  ranks  of  the  younger  and 
newer  Christians.  Thus,  if  the  officers  and  com- 
mittees are  changed  once  or  twice  a  year,  all  in 
course  of  time  will  have  a  chance  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  committee  work,  with  parliamentary 
usages,  and  with  the  routine  duties  which  many  will 
assume  in  their  future  church  life.  Nor  is  this  all. 
It  should  be  impressed  upon  each  boy  and  girl  that 
their  duties  as  Christians  are  not  confined  to  the 
prayer  meeting  and  the  sociable ;  that  they  have 
words  to  speak  in  private,  and  prayer  to  offer  for 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  57 

their  companions  who  are  not  yet  Christians.  Many 
will  be  surprised  to  find  how  readily  a  boy  can  reach 
a  boy's  heart ;  how  easily  a  girl,  with  the  missionary 
spirit,  can  diffuse  it  around  her,  until  other  girls 
catch  the  glow  of  her  zeal.  This  hand-to-hand, 
evangelistic  work  the  young  people  will  enter  into» 
if  rightly  guided  and  encouraged,  and  the  lessons  it 
will  teach  them  will  never  be  forgotten.  We  have 
used  the  masculine  pronoun  in  these  pages,  but  the 
feminine  might  be  substituted  for  it  just  as  well. 

All  this  work  may  be  done  by  girls  and  young 
ladies  as  well  as  by  boys  and  young  men,  and  they 
may  become  aids  to  the  prayer  meeting  and  to  all 
other  branches  of  church  work  as  well  as  their  breth- 
ren, through  the  means  of  this  training  school. 

In  the  third  place^  the  Young  Peoples  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  is  a  watch-tower  for  the  church. 
Through  this  agency  the  church  may  know  the 
religious  status  of  each  one  of  its  young  people. 
The  pastor  and  some  few  of  the  prominent  church 
members,  who  are  in  peculiar  sympathy  with  the 
movement  and  with  young  life  in  general,  should 
attend  all  the  meetings,  not  for  the  purpose  of  using 
much  of  the  time  or  of  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
the  meeting,  but  for  the  sake  of  seeing  how  the 
young  people  get  on. 

The  requirement  of  the  constitution  which  demands 
participation  in  the  monthly  experience  meeting  is  a 
great  help  in  this  direction ;  for  thus,  at  least  once  a 
month,  the  pastor  can  hear  his  young  Christians 
commit  themselves  anew  to  their  Saviour,  and,  if  they 


58  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

are  derelict  to  this  self-imposed  duty,  he  can  find 
out  the  cause  of  their  unfaithfulness.  The  Lookout 
Committee  may  be  of  very  great  assistance  to  the 
pastor  in  tliis  direction,  keeping  him  posted  concern- 
ing those  they  call  upon  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties,  and  giving  him  the  clew  to  the  religious  life 
of  many  of  the  boys  and  girls,  of  which  he  would 
otherwise  know  but  little. 

Thus  the  growth  in  grace  of  each  one  of  the 
young  Christians  may  be  watched  and  fostered  ;  and 
no  one  can  slip  away  from  the  outward  performance 
of  duties,  which  usually  precedes  or  accompanies  in- 
ward unfaithfulness,  without  the  fact  becoming  known 
to  some  of  the  older  Christians  of  the  church.  To 
speak  from  personal  experience  and  in  the  first  per- 
son once  more,  I  feel  in  a  certain  sense  as  though 
1  stood  with  my  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  each  of  the 
one  hundred  and  fifty  active  members  of  the  Young 
People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  our  own 
church,  and  that  no  one  of  them  can  escape  that 
friendly  grasp  without  my  knowledge.  In  other 
words,  I  know  something  of  the  religious  life  of 
each  of  these  young  people,  and  learn  a  little  more 
about  it  every  week,  which  is  a  great  deal  more  than 
I  can  say  of  the  majority  of  the  older  members  of 
the  church  Thus  does  this  society  prove  to  be  a 
watch-tower  for  the  pastor  and  older  members  of 
the  church,  as  well  as  a  training  school  within  the 
church  and  a  half-way  house  to  the  church. 

One  of  the  most  essential  factors  in  this  society 
is   the   Lookout  Committee,  as  we  have  elsewhere 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  fg 

intimated.  If  this  committee  does  its  work  faithfully 
and  wisely,  there  is  little  danger  that  the  rules  will 
not  be  observed,  or  that  there  will  be  disastrous 
failure  in  any  department  of  the  work.  This  com- 
mittee can  do  very  much  to  make  the  society  a  true 
half-way  house,  fitting  school,  and  watch-tower  for 
the  church. 

In  view  of  the  great  importance  of  this  branch  of 
the  organization,  we  append  some  hints  concerning 
the  labors  of  this  committee,  furnished  by  one  who 
for  many  months  has  been  the  chairman  of  such  a 
committee,  and  who  has  proved  exceptionally  efficient 
and  successful  in  carrying  on  this  work. 

The  Lookout  Committee  Work. 
"While  each  committee  has  its  own  peculiar  work, 
and  distinct  responsibility  for  the  Society  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  a  considerable  part  of  the  real  work  de- 
volves upon  this  committee ;  and  the  name  itself, 
*  The  Lookout  Committee,'  suggests  what  the  work 
is.  First,  its  work  is  to  look  out  for  and  bring  new 
members  into  the  society.  It  may  do  this  looking 
out  in  many  ways.  One  way  is  to  be  watchful  and 
note  those  who  attend  the  meetings  ;  to  give  stran- 
gers a  cordial  greeting  and  learn  if  they  are  followers 
of  our  Master,  and  if  they  would  not  like  to  join  us 
as  workers  in  our  band.  In  any  event  it  should  look 
out  that  they  do  not  long  feel  as  strangers.  Then 
there  are  many  young  people  who  do  not  attend  any 
prayer  meeting,  and  who  know  but  little  of  Christian 
living.     Surely  this  committee  should  seek  for  such 


60  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

as  these,  and  try  to  bring  them  in  where  they  may 
learn  of  their  Saviour,  and  to  help  them  to  begin  to 
serve  God.  It  should  particularly  look  out  for  new 
members  in  the  Sunday  schools.  Here  are  the  boys 
and  girls  who,  week  by  week,  are  learning  out  of 
God's  word  how  to  love  and  trust  in  their  Saviour. 
These  should  be  encouraged  to  come  into  the  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  acknowledge  the  Lord 
whom  they  love.  If  every  Sunday-school  teacher 
would  heartily  co-operate  with  this  committee,  a 
much  better  work  could  be  done  than  would  be  pos- 
sible for  it  to  accomplish  otherwise.  Among  the 
associate  members  in  the  society,  too,  this  committee 
should  look  for  active  members.  These  are  members 
who  have  not  yet  decided  to  follow  Christ.  It  should 
strive  for  these  who  are  so  near ;  strive  prayerfully, 
with  many  earnest  invitations.  This  is  the  home  work, 
which  should  be  done  with  patience;  kindly,  quietly, 
and  zealously.  Its  labors  should  not  cease  until  all 
are  brought  in  as  active  members  who  shall  be 
helpful  in  the  society  and  useful  in  God's  service. 
If  the  chairman  of  the  committee  has  this  matter^ 
the  bringing  in  of  new  members,  in  hand,  and  the 
work  be  done  systematically,  the  future  work  will  be 
greatly  facilitated.  Once  each  month,  at  least,  the 
committee,  after  having  decided  that  all  are  proper 
persons  to  be  admitted  into  the  society,  should  pre- 
sent the  list  of  the  names  of  those  desiring  to  join, 
to  be  voted  upon.  In  introducing  the  new  members, 
effort  should  be  made  to  give  to  each  some  work  that 
will  attach  responsibility  to  their  position,  and  which 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  6 1 

may  help  them  to  live  up  to  their  agreement,  and 
make  them  truly  useful  in  the  service  of  God.  The 
work  of  this  committee  is  also  to  look  after  its  own 
members.  This  looking  out  necessitates  the  personal 
acquaintance  of  the  Lookout  Committee  with  each 
member.  That  acquaintance  may  be  begun  when 
the  member  is  brought  into  the  society,  but  should 
not  end  here.  Let  friendly  calls  be  made  upon  all 
the  members.  If  the  committee  keep  a  list  of  the 
names  of  the  members,  there  can  be  some  system  for 
doing  this  part  of  the  work,  so  that  each  person  may 
not  receive  one,  but  many  calls.  It  is  in  the  homes 
that  the  pleasant  words  may  be  spoken  which  may 
help  to  promote  an  interest  in  the  daily  living  for 
Christ,  and  make  stronger  the  desire  to  serve  the 
Lord  Jesus  in  all  things  ;  and  the  kind  word  fitly 
spoken,  wherever  we  may  meet  one  of  our  number, 
on  the  street,  at  the  place  of  business,  or  in  the  social 
gathering,  has  its  part,  and  it  is  no  small  one,  in  this 
work.  The  result  of  this  looking  out  for  opportuni- 
ties to  be  helpful,  and  then  using  them,  none  can 
know.  But,  after  all  the  planning,  it  is  only  the 
hearts  which  are  truly  consecrated  to  the  Master's 
work,  and  that  are  bound  up  in  this  work  for  the 
young,  that  will  know  how  to  do  this  work  of  love. 
*  Be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season,*  would  make 
a  good  watchword  for  the  committee.  This  com- 
mittee has  also  to  look  after  any  who  may  seem  to 
be  indifferent  to  their  duties.  Yet,  if  it  earnestly 
looks  out  for  all  its  members,  as  has  been  suggested, 
there  will  be  few  of  these.     There  may  be  some  who 


62        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

do  not  often  attend  the  meetings,  and  who  are  never 
heard  from.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  committee  to  see 
such,  and,  if  possible,  ascertain  the  reason  of  their 
delinquency;  and,  if  excusable,  explain  the  case  before 
the  society.  If  they  are  really  indifferent,  it  ought, 
in  a  kind  and  affectionate  manner,  to  strive  to  arouse 
them  to  a  greater  interest  in  Christian  living,  and, 
reminding  them  of  the  rules  of  the  society,  to  make 
them  more  earnest  in  living  up  to  their  agreement. 
This  committee  should  be  wide  awake  and  watchful, 
and,  by  the  timely,  encouraging  word,  strive  to  keep 
all  interested  in  the  society,  and  to  prevent  any  from 
falling  out  by  the  wayside.  If  this  be  a  thoughtful, 
faithful,  and  prayerful  committee,  its  opportunities 
are  unbounded  to  work  for  Christ  and  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  young." 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  63 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    YOUNG    PEOPLe's    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR. 

Questions  Answered.  —  How  can  the  Society  be  started? 
—  What  Age  Limit  shall  be  imposed.?— Is  this  Plan  fitted 
for  Small,  Weak  Churches  ?— What  does  "Absolute  Neces- 
sity "mean? —  How  should  an  Experience  Meeting  be  con- 
ducted ?— Why  should  the  Roll  be  called  at  its  Close  ? — 
What  other  Work  may  be  attempted?  —  How  shall  the 
Indifferent  be  dealt  with? 

Suggestions.  —  Care  in  admitting  Members.  —  Strict  Ad- 
herence to  the  Rules.  —  Constant  Vigilance  needed.  —  The 
Pastor's  Place  in  this  Work  an  Essential  Place. 

Objections  Answered.  —  That  the  Society  will  detract  from 
the  Pre-eminence  of  the  Church.  —  That  it  will  interfere 
with  the  Church  Prayer  Meeting.  —  That  it  will  foster  a 
Brazen,  Wordy  Type  of  Piety. 

A  GREAT  many  questions  of  a  practical  nature 
concerning  the  workings  of  this  society  have  come 
to  us  from  correspondents  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Let  us  try  to  answer  some  of  these  questions  in  this 
chapter. 

"  How  can  I  start  such  a  society  ? "  is  the  question 
that  often  comes. 

"There  is  no  particular  interest  among  the  young 
people  of  our  congregation,  and   I   should  be  afraid 


64  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE   CHURCH. 

that  the  attempt  would   lack    support,  and   fall    flat 
from  the  very  beginning,"  say  many. 

It  is  unquestionably  much  better  to  begin  such  a 
movement  during  a  time  of  revived  religious  interest 
among  the  young.  This  revival  interest  gives  every 
such  work  an  impetus  which  it  can  gain  in  no  other 
way,  and  this  impetus  and  headway  may  be  main- 
tained with  comparative  ease  when  the  society  is 
fully  established.  We  would  begin  with  a  prayer 
meeting  especially  for  the  young.  Let  the  pastor 
invite  all  the  boys  and  girls,  who  desire  to  attend 
such  a  meeting,  to  remain  for  a  few  minutes  after 
Sunday  school  some  Sabbath.  He  will  be  sur- 
prised oftentimes,  we  think,  to  see  how  many  will 
respond.  Then,  with  the  help  of  a  few  judicious, 
young-hearted  teachers,  let  him  try  to  point  these 
boys  and  girls,  who  show  enough  interest  to  attend 
this  meeting,  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  After  a  few, 
earnest,  winning  words  from  himself  and  others, 
perhaps  he  will  think  it  best  to  ask  those  who  wish 
to  remain  for  personal,  religious  conversation  to  do 
so.  Again  we  think  the  pastor  will  be  surprised 
(we  are  speaking  from  experience  in  this  matter)  to 
find  how  many  children  are  willing  at  least  to  talk 
with  him  on  this  subject.  By  this  personal  conver- 
sation, repeated  for  a  few  weeks  in  succession,  and 
especially  with  the  help  of  wise  and  faithful  teachers 
in  their  own  classes,  he  can  soon  winnow  the  sin- 
cere and  earnest  young  disciples  from  their  thought 
less  and  indifferent  companions,  and  can,  before 
many  weeks,  form  them  into  a  Society  of  Christian 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  65 

Endeavor,  in  which  there  should,  if  possible,  be  a 
few  of  the  older  young  people  of  the  church.  This 
little  band  will  grow,  as  the  plan  for  Christian  nur- 
ture becomes  better  known  and  more  popular,  until 
it  will  become  a  powerful  auxiliary  for  good.  But 
even  when  there  is  no  religious  interest  among  the 
children,  and  no  means  of  awakening  such  an  inter- 
est (a  very  rare  and  exceptional  state  of  affairs),  such 
a  society  may  still  be  started,  if  there  are  only  two 
or  three  young  people  who  are  willing  to  subscribe 
to  the  iron-clad  rules  of  the  constitution,  and  meet 
together  once  a  week  for  Christian  helpfulness. 
Their  meetings  will  always  be  interesting,  even  if 
they  last  for  only  twenty  minutes  ;  and  their  num- 
bers, we  think,  will  soon  increase,  if  only  the  charter 
members  are  faithful  and   zealous. 

"  Is  this  plan  fitted  for  small,  weak  churches,  where 
there  are  only  a  few  young  people  .'*  " 

We  think  so ;  for  the  only  condition  of  success  is 
that  those  who  do  belong,  be  they  few  or  many,  be 
true  to  their  pledge  and  persistent  in  their  efforts  to 
brins:  others  into  the  Christian  life. 

*' What  should  be  the  limits  of  age  in  this  society.?" 

This  is  a  question  which  will  very  largely  answer 
itself  in  practice.  The  very  young,  those  under  nine 
or  ten,  cannot  well  attend  the  evening  meetings,  and 
so  cannot  join  a  society  which  pledges  such  attend- 
ance ;  and  middle-aged  and  elderly  church  members 
will  doubtless  feel,  for  the  most  part,  that  their 
sphere  of  usefulness  is  in  the  regular  church  prayer 
meetings,    and,  while   aiding   the   young    people   in 


66  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

every  way  in  their  power,  will  not  wish  to  take  up 
very  much  of  their  weekly  prayer-meeting  hour. 
Earnest,  Christian  young  men  and  women,  however, 
from  eighteen  to  thirty  years  of  age,  are  a  very  valu- 
able element,  for  the  society  needs  the  maturer  judg- 
ment and  assistance  of  these  in  many  ways. 

''Will  young  men  and  women  of  twenty-one  or 
over  unite  with  children  of  ten  or  twelve  in  this 
work  ? " 

Generally,  we  think,  there  will  be  little  prac- 
tical trouble  on  this  score.  The  older  ones  will 
soon  see  that  they  are  very  useful  to  the  younger 
ones,  and  that  a  large  field  of  Christian  effort  lies  in 
this  direction.  As  the  work  progresses,  they  will 
doubtless  become  more  and  more  engaged  in  it ; 
while  the  younger  ones,  feeling  that  they  too  have 
a  share  in  the  management  of  the  organization,  will 
be  easily  led  and  guided  by  those  who  have  had  more 
experience. 

We  have  found  it  wise  sometimes  to  assign,  in 
a  quiet  way,  some  particular  younger  boys  to  each 
of  the  older  ones  to  look  after  and  help. 

"  Is  it  best  to  have  both  sexes  in  the  same  society  ? " 

By  all  means,  we  should  say.  Each  helps  the 
other.  Some  kinds  of  committee  work,  girls  and 
young  ladies  can  do  far  better  than  the  boys  ;  while 
some  of  the  offices  can  best  be  filled  by  young  men. 

"  What  does  the  phrase  *  unless  prevented  by  an 
absolute  necessity,'  in  the  prayer-meeting  clause  of 
the  constitution,  mean  ?  " 

Just  what  it  says.     Of  course   it  must  be  inter- 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  6/ 

preted  by  the  individual  conscience  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  but  it  is  intended  to  exclude  all  slight 
and  frivolous  excuses  for  non-attendance,  and  to 
make  attendance  really  obligatory  upon  those  who 
willingly  enter  into  this  agreement.  Absence  from 
town,  sickness,  prohibition  of  parents,  of  course, 
make  absence  "absolutely  necessary  "  ;  but  the  pres- 
ence of  company,  a  fascinating  novel,  childish  dis- 
inclination or  freaks  of  any  kind,  should  not  be 
allowed  to  keep  the  young  Christian  from  his  reli- 
gious duties. 

''How  should  the  experience  meeting  be  con- 
ducted .? " 

Like  any  other,  except  that  all  who  take  part 
in  it  should  be  so  brief  as  to  give  every  other 
member  a  chance  to  speak,  which  indeed  is  a  good 
rule  for  any  prayer  meeting.  This  ''experience 
meeting  "  has  often  been  misapprehended,  we  think. 
It  has  received  this  name  for  lack  of  a  better.  Per- 
haps "consecration  meeting"  or  "commitment  meet- 
ing "  would  more  accurately  describe  it.  The  idea 
is  that  once  each  month  every  young  person  shall 
publicly  reconsecrate  himself  to  God,  in  some  simple, 
appropriate  way ;  perhaps  by  merely  repeating  a  verse 
of  Scripture  that  expresses  his  feelings,  perhaps  by 
saying,  "I  am  trying  to  serve  Jesus,"  "I  hope  I  am 
a  Christian,"  "  I  have  been  trying  to  live  a  Christian 
life  during  the  past  month,"  or  "  I  hope  to  serve  my 
Master  better  during  the  month  to  come." 

Such  expressions  are  frequently  heard  in  the 
experience  meetings,  and  answer  every  requirement 


6S  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

and  expectation.  As  the  young  disciple  grows  older 
and  stronger,  he  may  have  more  to  relate  concerning 
his  past  experience ;  but  it  is  not  required.  No 
well-rounded  Christian  experience  is  expected  from 
month  to  month  ;  the  simplest,  most  childlike  ex- 
pression of  allegiance  to  the  child's  Saviour  is  alone 
demanded.  The  importance  of  such  a  frequently 
renewed  consecration  to  the  young  disciple,  during 
the  formative  years  of  his  Christian  life,  cannot  be 
overestimated. 

^'  What  is  the  use  of  calling  the  roll  at  the  close 
of  the  monthly  experience  meeting,  as  is  the  practice 
in  some  societies  ^  " 

One  reason  is  to  find  out  who  is  absent  without 
excuse.  In  a  large  society  no  other  method  could 
be  adopted,  and  the  Lookout  Committee  would  not 
know  whom  to  approach  with  the  word  of  warning 
or  reproof.  Another  great  object  is  that  the  answer- 
ing to  the  roll  may  be  a  recommitment  of  the  young 
disciple  to  his  Saviour.  He  should  be  taught  when 
he  answers  "present,"  and  confesses  thus  that  he  is 
an  active  member  of  the  society,  and  under  obligations 
to  obey  its  rules,  that  he,  at  the  same  time,  confesses 
that  he  is  a  follower  of  Christ,  and  wishes  to  be 
numbered  among  His  people. 

Thus  the  calling  over  of  the  names  is  far  more 
than  the  reading  of  a  muster  roll :  it  gives  to  every 
one  a  new  opportunity  for  confessing  Christ  once 
each  month. 

**What  other  work  can  be  undertaken  by  such  a 
society  besides  the  prayer-meeting  work  ?"     , 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  69 

Committees  of  various  kinds  may  be  raised,  accord- 
ing to  the  need  of  different  churches.  There  may 
be  a  Flower  Committee,  to  provide  flowers  for  the 
pulpit  each  Sunday  ;  a  Relief  Committee,  to  look 
after  such  children  and  young  people  as  are  sick 
or  poor,  and  may  need  aid  ;  a  Sunday-School  Com- 
mittee, to  bring  into  the  Sunday  school,  children 
who  do  not  attend  any  other  school ;  and  a  Mis- 
sionary Committee,  to  raise  funds  from  among  the 
members  by  voluntary  contributions  for  missionary 
objects.  In  fact,  these  branches  of  work  may  be 
almost  indefinitely  enlarged,  according  to  the  judg- 
ment of  each  pastor  and  local  society. 

"  How  can  members  who  grow  lax  and  careless  be 
kept  up  to  a  steady  performance  of  their  duties  .'' " 

The  Lookout  Commuttee,  if  rightly  constituted,  is 
very  useful  in  this  work.  The  fact  that  the  mem- 
bers know  they  will  be  looked  after,  if  they  forget 
their  obligations,  is  a  great  restraint  and  safeguard. 
If  any  stray  away,  a  kind  word  often  recalls  them  to 
their  duties  ;  while,  if  the  unfaithfulness  is  wilful  and 
prolonged,  there  is  nothing  left  but  dishonorable  dis- 
mission, which  shall  relieve  the  society  of  further 
responsibility  for  the  delinquents.  Those  who  have 
acquired  a  real  distaste  for  a  Christian's  duties  will 
no  doubt  avail  themselves  of  the  back  door  out  of 
the  society,  and,  by  absenting  themselves  from  three 
consecutive  experience  meetings,  will  thus  exclude 
themselves  from  it ;  but  such  cases  will  not,  we  think, 
be  frequent. 

One  or   two    cautions    seem    to   be   necessary  at 


70        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

this  point.  In  the  first  place,  care  should  be  taken 
to  admit  only  Christian  young  people  to  active 
membership. 

While  the  idea  is  new  and  enthusiasm  runs  high, 
a  great  many  of  the  younger  ones  may  desire  to 
enroll  themselves  as  members,  without  really  under- 
standing the  object  or  rules  of  the  society.  This 
should  not  be  allowed.  The  Lookout  Committee 
should  take  pains  to  find  out  that  every  one  who  is 
proposed  for  membership  gives  credible  evidence  — 
the  evidence  that  a  child  or  youth  should  be  ex- 
pected to  give  —  of  conversion  ;  and  that  he  under- 
stands and  is  willing  to  live  up  to  the  strict  re- 
quirements of  the  constitution. 

Of  course,  with  the  utmost  watchfulness,  some 
may  be  received  who  really  do  not  belong  in  this 
fold  of  young  Christians ;  but  the  number  will  be 
comparatively  small,  and  will  have  no  disturbing 
effect  upon  the  religious  zeal  of  the  others.  Again, 
especial  pains  should  be  taken  that  the  rules  shall  in 
no  instance  become  dead  letters.  This  idea  has 
been  alluded  to  in  a  preceding  chapter;  but,  for  the 
sake  of  emphasis,  we  desire  to  mention  it  in  this 
place.  These  rules  are  not  meant  for  show  upon 
paper,  but  for  the  actual  guidance  of  the  lives  of 
those  who  subscribe  to  them. 

There  is  nothing  in  any  one  of  them  that  should 
be  considered  impossible  or  even  onerous  by  the 
hearty  young  Christian.  Then  they  should  be  ob- 
served. The  great  danger  to  be  contended  with  is 
this    danger   of     laxity.       It    is   so   foreign    to   the 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  /I 

expectations  of  our  older  church  members  that  every 
one  should  bear  some  share  of  the  burden  of  every 
meeting,  that  it  is  thought  quite  preposterous  to 
expect  this  of  mere  children ;  and  so,  little  by  little, 
a  few  are  in  danger  of  finding  the  meetings  in  their 
own  hands,  and  the  design  of  the  society,  as  a  training 
school  for  the  youngest  and  for  every  one,  is  frus- 
trated. But  it  will  not  be  impossible,  as  experience 
has  proved,  to  make  these  rules  effective,  if  those 
who  have  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  society  are 
true  to  their  trusts,  and  are  willing  to  take  the 
necessary  pains  to  enforce  them.  Soon  it  will  be- 
come the  popular  and  the  expected  thing  to  attend 
all  the  meetings  and  to  support  them.  The  force  of 
habit,  and  the  esprit  de  corps  among  the  members,  will 
come  to  the  aid  of  pastor  and  teachers,  and  a  new 
generation  of .  Christians  will  come  up  with  whom 
prayer-meeting  work  is  neither  spasmodic  nor  spo- 
radic, but  a  regular,  accepted  part  of  daily  duty. 

Another  suggestion  is  that  this  society  will  not 
take  care  of  itself.  The  young  people  must  be 
guided,  encouraged,  watched,  and  sympathized  with 
constantly.  This  is  no  patent  process  for  turning 
out  young  Christians  without  any  labor  on  the  part 
of  pastor  or  older  friends.  Constant  vigilance  and 
ov^ersight  are  required.  The  great  merit,  as  it  seems 
to  us,  is  that  this  organization  makes  thij  oversight 
practicable  and  effective.  This  society  accomplishes 
nothing  unless  live  men  who  love  the  young,  whom 
Christ  blessed  and  for  whom  He  died,  are  behind  it, 
and  are  willing  to  be  very  busy  in  His  service.     Nor 


72        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

does  this  agency  supersede  or  render  unnecessary 
other  forms  of  work  for  the  young.  It  in  no  way 
takes  the  place  of  Sunday  school  work ;  it  relieves 
the  pastor  of  no  private  duties  toward  the  young  of 
his  flock  ;  it  does  not  take  the  place  of  pastor's 
classes  for  the  catechetical  instruction  of  the  boys 
and  girls  ;  in  fact,  in  connection  with  the  work  of 
this  society,  it  has  been  our  custom  for  several  years 
to  have  a  "pastor's  class  "  meeting  in  the  afternoon, 
for  instruction  in  the  church  creed,  and  the  doctrines 
of  evangelical  religion.  This  class  and  the  weekly 
meetings  of  the  society  have  been  mutually  helpful, 
one  to  the  other. 

It  has  been  said  that  there  is  not  sufficient  room 
for  the  pastor's  influence  in  this  work.  On  the 
other  hand,  this  organization  gives  a  great  many 
additional  levers  to  the  pastor,  which  he  may  use, 
if  he  will,  most  effectively.  To  be  sure,  his  name 
may  not  appear  among  the  list  of  officers,  he  may 
not  take  charge  of  the  prayer  meetings  ;  but  he  should 
always  be  present,  and  his  should  be  the  unseen  hand 
which  guides  every  movement. 

There  are  various  regulations  which  may  be  wisely 
adopted  by  different  societies  according  to  local 
needs.  For  instance,  while  it  is  best  that  the  subject 
of  the  prayer  meetings  should  always  be  known  by 
all  in  advance,  it  may  be  sometimes  best  to  print  the 
subjects  for  some  weeks  ahead,  at  other  times  to 
announce  them  each  week  for  the  next,  and  at  other 
times  to  post  a  written  list  in  the  vestibule  of  the 
vestry,  to  be  chosen  from  when  no  better  subjects 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  73 

present  themselves.  Another  suggestion,  which 
comes  from  a  correspondent,  is  that  all  the  young 
people  be  encouraged  to  keep  a  memorandum  book 
in  which  they  shall  put  down  prayer-meeting  topics, 
thoughts  to  be  presented  at  the  next  meeting,  lists 
of  those  to  be  remembered  in  prayer,  and  other  help- 
ful notes. 

The  monthly  sociables  in  our  judgment  should  be 
confined  to  the  members,  active  and  associate,  and 
to  those  whom  the  Social  Committee  may  especially 
invite ;  but  they  should  not  be  opened  to  any  and  all. 
This  exclusiveness  will  prove  a  stimulus  to  associate 
membership,  perhaps,  and  many  who  would  not  other- 
wise do  so  may  put  themselves  under  the  influence 
of  the  active,  praying  members  of  the  society,  for 
the  sake  at  first  of  the  good  times  which  the  sociables 
afford.  The  aim  in  these  sociables  should  not  be  too 
manifestly  didactic.  Their  object  is  to  give  all  who 
attend  a  good  time,  and  to  make  them  feel  at  home 
among  the  Christian  young  people,  and  to  make  them 
familiar  with  each  other.  To  accomplish  this  object, 
while  there  should  be  a  fair  proportion  of  music, 
readings,  and  literary  entertainment,  games  should  not 
be  ignored  or  frowned  upon  by  the  older  members. 

Objections.  —  Many  objections  to  this  method  of 
work  have  naturally  arisen  and  have  come  to  our 
ears.  Most  of  them  may  be  grouped  under  two 
heads :  First,  these  young  people's  societies,  it  is 
said,  will  interfere  with  the  church  and  detract  from 
its  pre  eminence.  Second,  it  is  thought  they  will 
foster  a  forced,  unnatural  religious  character. 


74  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

As  to  the  first  objection  :  The  only  test  of  this  is 
experience,  and  as  far  as  our  experience  goes,  it 
points  directly  the  other  way.  Our  church  prayer 
meetings  have  been  better  attended,  with  a  far  larger 
proportion  of  young  people,  and  with  much  more 
active  help  from  them,  since  the  establishment  of 
this  society  than  ever  before.  At  least  sixty,  whom 
we  could  not  otherwise  have  expected  to  see  join 
the  church,  have  joined  within  a  year  and  a  half, 
led  to  Christ  and  trained  for  Christ  by  the  influences 
of  this  society.  There  are  six  organizations  of  the 
same  kind  in  Portland,  and  every  one  has  resulted 
in  awakening  a  new  interest  in  religious  matters 
among  the  young,  and  in  bringing  many  into  these 
churches.  The  same  is  true  of  scores  of  similar 
societies,  from  which  we  have  heard,  in  various  parts 
of  the  land. 

Some  one  says,  ''Bring  them  all,  young  and  old 
and  middle-aged,  into  one  great  prayer  meeting,  and 
let  us  have  no  classifications  of  age  in  the  prayer 
meeting." 

Very  true,  bring  them  all  together ;  urge  this  upon 
them,  keep  it  before  them,  that,  whatever  happens, 
they  must  never  desert  any  of  .the  regular  meetings 
of  their  church  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  if  they  wish 
to  come  together  on  still  another  evening,  when  less 
embarrassed  by  the  presence  of  their  elders,  for 
mutual  help,  shall  we  forbid  this,  when  all  their 
practice  will  inure  directly  to  the  benefit  of  the 
church  ?  Can  we  expect  a  child  Christian  to  find 
his  voice  for  the  first  time  when  two  or  three  hun- 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  75 

dred  older  Christians  are  listening  for  his  confession  ? 
As  a  practical  matter,  do  we  not  need  some  fitting- 
school  for  the  young  convert,  and,  instead  of  regard- 
ing any  such  movement  as  antagonistic  to  the  church, 
should  we  not  welcome  it  as  a  most  needed  auxiliary  ? 

Another  says  in  this  same  line  of  criticism,  ''  I  don't 
believe  in  anything  outside  of  the  church.  God 
appointed  the  church  to  accomplish  the  conversion 
of  the  world,  and  what  is  outside  of  the  church  is 
wrong  in  principle  and  practice." 

But  in  what  sense  is  such  an  organization  outside 
of  the  church  ?  No  more  than  the  Sunday  school, 
no  more  than  the  prayer  meeting,  are  outside  of  the 
church.  It  is  carried  on  by  the  church  and  for  the 
church,  and  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  children  into 
the  church,  and  of  keeping  them  from  falling  after 
they  are  in  the  church.  Surely  nothing  could  have 
a  more  intimate  relation  with  the  church  than  just 
such  an  organization. 

Another  class  of  objectors  take  the  ground,  as  we 
have  said,  that  any  such  efforts,  and  especially  such 
meetings  as  this  society  contemplates,  will  cultivate 
a  bold  and  brazen  type  of  piety ;  that  it  will  brush 
the  first  bloom  from  the  youthful  Christian  heart : 
in  a  word,  that  it  will  foster  a  forced,  unnatural, 
precocious  religious  experience.  The  only  answer 
to  make  to  such  objectors  is  the  answer  of  actual 
experience,  "  See  if  it  does."  We  have  watched 
carefully  for  any  budding  signs  of  such  unnatural 
religious  precocity,  and  we  have  yet  to  find  the  first 
indications  of  it.     And  why  should  we  expect  this  ? 


yd  THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

Is  there  not* a  religious  experience  as  germane  to  the 
boy  as  to  the  man  ?  Is  it  not  as  natural  for  a  Chris- 
tian boy  to  speak  as  a  Christian  boy,  as  for  a  Chris- 
tian man  to  speak  as  a  Christian  man  ?  We  have  no 
doubt  that  some  children  could  be  flattered  and 
cajoled  into  thinking  that  they  were  experienced 
veterans  when  they  were  but  babes  in  Christ,  and 
might  put  on  unbecoming  airs  in  consequence ;  but 
the  vast  majority  will  be  so  timid  and  modest  and 
shrinking  that  the  great  problem  will  be  how  to 
bring  them  out  rather  than  how  to  repress  them  in 
the  expression  they  give  to  their  religious  life  ;  and 
a  very  few  kindly  words  will  be  sufficient  to  check 
the  few  too  forward  ones,  if  any  such  are  found. 
Much  objection  has  been  made  to  the  experience 
meeting  on  this  ground.  It  has  been  made,  however, 
we  think,  under  a  mistaken  view  of  its  nature  and 
object.  The  idea,  as  we  have  intimated,  is  not  that 
each  young  convert  shall  once  each  month  present 
a  well-rounded  or  unique  experience,  the  more  start- 
ling the  better,  thus  provoking  the  invention  of  the 
boys  and  girls  after  a  month  of  ordinary,  routine, 
Christian  living.  The  leading  idea  is  that  then  each 
member  of  the  society  shall  in  public  renewedly 
express  his  determination  to  serve  God.  If  he 
chooses  to  tell  what  has  befallen  him  in  the  Christian 
life,  well  and  good  :  it  is  pleasant  to  hear  the  young 
disciples  express  the  joy  they  have  had  for  four 
weeks  in  serving  their  Saviour  ;  but  this  is  not 
required,  —  simply  an  expressed  or  implied  acknowl- 
edgment of    Christ's  claim  upon    him.     The    advan- 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  // 

tages  of  frequently  bringing  the  child  to  commit 
himself  as  a  Christian  before  his  companions  are  too 
obvious  to  enlarge  upon ;  and  we  will  only  add  that, 
so  far  as  we  have  noticed,  —  and  we  have  carefully 
watched  for  it, — these  experience  meetings  have  fos- 
tered nothing  but  the  simplest,  sweetest,  most  child- 
like religion. 

We  are  very  far  from  claiming  that  this  is  the 
only  method  of  Christian  nurture,  or  the  best  method 
devisable.  We  only  submit  it  as  one  plan  which  has 
worked  well  in  many  places,  as  one  method  which  is 
surely  better  than  no  method  at  all.  The  exigencies 
of  the  times  demand  an  aggressive  movement  in  this 
direction.  Our  depleted  churches,  waiting  listlessly 
for  a  revival,  point  in  this  same  direction.  .  The  mul- 
titudes of  young  people,  going  out  from  Christian 
homes  unsaved,  emphasize  the  same  fact,  that  some 
new  and  efficient  plan  of  Christian  nurture  must  be 
adopted,  and  that  growth  from  within  is  as  important 
to  the  welfare  of  the  church,  to  say  the  least,  as 
conquest  from  without. 


78  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    YOUNG   PEOPLe's    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR. 

Further  Misapprehensions  corrected. — The  Object  not  only 
to  awaken,  but  to  keep  awake.  —  Not  to  make  Chil- 
dren Prominent,  but  to  make  them  Useful.  —  Further 
Questions  answered.  —  "  How  may  Interest  in  Religious 
Matters  be  first  aroused  ?  "  —  The  Sunday-School  Prayer 
Meeting.  —  A  Catechetical  Class.  —  This  Society  not  a 
Labor-Saving  Contrivance.  —  A  Flexible  Organization.  — 
What  has  been  done.  — What  may  be  done. 

So  many  practical  questions  have  come  to  us  since 
we  began  the  preparation  of  this  little  work,  that  we 
are  constrained  to  add  a  chapter  to  our  original  plan. 
And  first  a  word  of  explanation  to  those  who  have 
misunderstood  the  animus  of  this  work  for  the  young. 

It  has  been  understood  in  some  quarters  to  be  a 
kind  of  children's  crusade,  a  revivalistic  effort,  simply 
to  induce  children  to  pledge  themselves  to  Christ. 
The  task  which  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
has  set  before  it  is  much  more  difficult  than  this, 
and  its  scope  is  much  broader.  It  is  easy  to  arouse 
children's  sensibilities.  A  thrillingly  told  story  will 
start  their  emotions.  A  powerful  appeal  will  awaken 
their  consciences.  But  what  will  keep  these  con- 
sciences awake }  Who  will  carefully  prune  and  train 
and  nourish  and  foster  until  the  little  plant  becomes 


THE    SOCIETY   OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  79 

rooted  and  grounded  in  Christ  ?  To  accomplish  this 
latter  and  far  more  important  work  is  the  chief 
object  of  the  society  we  have  described.  We  have 
nothing  to  say  against  any  proper  and  sensible 
method  of  awakening  the  religious  sensibilities  of 
the  young,  but  we  have  very  much  to  say  against 
dropping  them  and  leaving  them  unguarded,  the 
moment  these  sensibilities  are  awakened. 

Many  "  converts "  may  be  counted  where  such 
methods  are  employed,  if  the  count  is  taken  soon 
enough  after  the  thrilling  appeal  is  made  ;  the  more 
important  question  is,  how  many  will  answer  to  their 
names  when  the  roll  of  Christ's  followers  is  called 
after  ten  or  twenty  years  ?  Much  reproach  has  been 
brought  upon  child-religion  and  Christian  nurture  by 
unwise  and  injudicious  attempts  to  scare  or  coax  or 
melt  children  into  a  religious  mood.  Such  attempts, 
if  they  stop  there,  are  often  worse  than  useless,  for 
the  plant  of  Christian  character,  instead  of  feeing 
warmed  into  new  life,  is  often  seared  and  burned,  so 
that  it  never  again  easily  responds  to  the  vivifying 
influences  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 

Against  a  prejudice  thus  created,  are  all  new  plans 
for  Christian  nurture  obliged  to  contend ;  but  we 
desire  to  have  it  distinctly  understood  that  the 
methods  we  have  described  contemplate  not  this 
sudden,  spasmodic,  gusty  work,  but  a  quiet,  watchful, 
long-continued,  patient  effort,  extending  through 
months  and  years,  to  fit  children  for  the  church  of 
'God  on  earth  and  the  assemby  of  the  redeemed 
above.     It  has  been  our  earnest   prayer  and   hope 


80        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

that  some  such  agency  of  Christian  nurture,  estab- 
lished in  our  churches,  might  increase  the  confidence 
of  older  Christians  in  youthful  piety,  and  might  dispel 
the  prejudices  which  well-meant  but  unwise  methods 
of  revival  work  among  children  have  created. 

Another  misapprehension  is  that  this  society  tends 
to  make  children  prominent  in  public,  that  its  prime 
object  is  to  make  a  religious  stump  speaker  of  every 
boy  or  girl  whom  it  can  induce  to  join  its  ranks. 
Such  an  idea  is  so  whimsical  and  so  wide  of  the  mark 
that  it  hardly  seems  worthy  of  serious  answer,  but  it 
has  been  urged,  and  we  wish  to  free  the  minds  of  all 
our  readers  of  every  such  idea. 

This  society  contemplates  no  exhibitions,  no  dis- 
play of  the  talent  of  its  members  for  religious  exhor- 
tation. The  prayer  meetings  are  quiet  gatherings  to- 
gether of  young  disciples.  There  cannot  well  be  any- 
thing of  the  public  declamation  flavor  to  them ;  no 
exhibition  of  dress,  no  posturing,  no  stage  effects  are 
possible.  What  can  be  more  natural  or  more  child- 
like than  the  gathering  together  of  young  Christians 
to  recite  the  words  of  inspiration,  or  the  simple  words 
God  has  given  them  to  speak  to  each  other.  If  reci- 
tations in  public  schools  and  Sabbath  schools  are  not 
open  to  this  charge,  we  cannot  well  see  how  it  can  be 
laid  at  the  door  of  the  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor. 

One  of  the  most  frequent  questions  which  comes  to 
us  is,  "  How  shall  we  arouse  interest  enough  among 
our  young  people  to  make  them  willing  to  start  such 
an  organization,  and  to  live  up  to  its  stringent  rules  ?'' 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  8 1 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  Sunday-school 
prayer  meetings  as  one  solution  of  this  problem ; 
but,  owing  to  the  vital  importance  of  this  question, 
we  shall  be  pardoned,  perhaps,  for  dwelling  more  at 
length  upon  this  means  of  making  a  beginning. 

We  have  published  some  suggestions  upon  this 
point  in  the  Siuiday  School  Times^  which  we  take 
the  liberty  of  reproducing  here,  in  part :  — 

The  Sunday-school  prayer  meeting  should  be  held 
directly  after  the  session  of  the  Sunday  school,  and 
to  them  all  the  boys  and  girls  as  well  as  teachers 
should  be  urged  to  stop. 

At  these  meetings  let  it  be  understood  that  there 
is  to  be  direct,  hand-to-hand  work  for  the  salvation  of 
souls  ;  and  let  the  very  youngest  understand  that  the 
object  of  these  meetings  is  to  bring  them  to  the 
Saviour.  Many  will  go  out  when  Sunday  school  is 
done,  very  likely,  but  many,  also,  will  remain  in  re- 
sponse to  the  invitation ;  some  from  curiosity,  some 
because  their  companions  remain,  and  some  because 
they  really  desire  to  be  Christians.  Let  the  pastor 
or  superintendent,  or  some  judicious  teacher,  take 
charge  of  the  meeting,  and  in  a  few  direct,  forcible 
words  tell  the  children  what  it  is  to  be  a  Christian, 
that  Jesus  longs  to  receive  the  smallest  one,  that  it 
is  a  matter  of  choice  for  the  child  as  well  as  for  the 
man,  and  that  Christianity  is  best  shown  by  consis- 
tent, every-day  living  for  Jesus  at  home,  at  school, 
and  on  the  street. 

At  the  first  meeting  it  may  be  well  to  ask  all  the 
children  who  are  willing  to  think  the  matter  over 


82  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

seriously,  and  to  try  to  decide  before  next  Sunday 
whether  or  not  they  will  become  Christians,  to  rise. 
It  is  our  experience  that  a  large  number  will  rise  at 
such  an  invitation ;  some  out  of  sympathy  with 
others,  and  many  because  they  sincerely  desire,  in  a 
childish  way,  to  become  the  followers  of  Jesus.  In 
the  week  that  intervenes  they  will  have  time  to  think 
the  matter  over,  and,  if  they  have  Christian  parents, 
they  should  be  urged  to  talk  with  them  upon  the 
subject.  If  they  cannot  talk  with  their  parents,  then 
with  their  Sunday-school  teachers  or  some  expe- 
rienced friend. 

The  next  Sunday  all  these  children,  and  very 
likely  others,  will  remain  to  the  Sunday-school  prayer 
meeting,  and  it  may  be  well  to  ask  them  then  how 
many  have  thought  the  matter  over  carefully,  and 
have  finally  decided  to  devote  their  lives  to  the 
Saviour.  It  would  seem  best  to  make  the  decision 
seem  a  very  plain  and  simple  matter,  but  also  a  very 
serious  matter,  and  to  warn  the  boys  and  girls  that 
they  must  make  no  pledges  lightly  or  without  full 
determination  to  carry  them  out.  The  great  danger 
at  this  stage  is  that  some,  influenced  by  others,  and 
with  a  feeble,  half-formed  determination  to  do  better, 
will  pledge  themselves  without  really  meaning  any- 
thing by  it ;  but  this  danger  can  largely  be  guarded 
against  by  a  few  words  of  serious  explanation  of 
the  nature  of  the  Christian  life,  and  of  its  being  a 
matter  of  eternal  import,  and  therefore  not  to  be 
trifled  with. 

The  serious  may  further  be  sifted  out  from  the 


THE    SOCIETY   OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  83 

frivolous  by  asking  all  the  children  who  wish  to  know 
more  about  the  Christian  life,  and  who  are  really  in 
earnest  to  be  followers  of  the  Saviour,  to  come  to 
the  pastor's  house  some  week-day,  appointing  one 
day  for  the  girls  and  another  for  the  boys.  For  the 
most  part,  only  those  who  are  really  in  earnest  will 
accept  such  an  invitation  ;  and  the  opportunity  this 
will  give  for  private,  personal  talk  with  each  of  the 
children  will  be  invaluable. 

After  four  or  five  such  Sunday-school  prayer  meet- 
ings, followed  by  such  supplementary  meetings  at 
the  pastor's  house,  it  will  be  easy  to  sift  the  merely 
impulsive  from  the  deeply  serious  or  truly  converted  ; 
and  then  it  might  be  well  to  present  to  the  boys  and 
girls  some  simple  pledge  to  which  they  shall  sign 
their  names,  and  which  they  can  keep  in  their  Bibles, 
and  read  over  every  day  until  it  is  ingrained  into 
their  minds.  Every  pastor  will  choose  to  make  out 
his  own  pledge,  perhaps,  but  we  would  suggest  the 
following,  as  very  simple  and  yet  comprehensive :  — 


Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength, 
I  promise  Him  that  I  will  try  to  do  whatever  He 
would  like  to  have  me  do ;  that  I  will  pray  to  Him 
and  read  the  Bible  every  day,  and  that,  just  so  far 
as  I  know  how,  throughout  my  whole  life  I  will 
try  to  lead  a  ChristiaJi  life. 


Signed 


84  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

The  children,  as  we  have  said,  should  be  encour- 
aged in  every  way  to  talk  with  their  parents  and 
other  friends  about  the  matter,  and  perhaps,  if  they 
are  quite  young,  should  take  the  pledge  home  and 
show  it  to  their  parents  before  they  sign  it.  Very 
few  parents  will  refuse  to  allow  their  children  to  sign 
such  a  pledge,  and  it  will  please  them  to  know  that 
everything  that  is  done  for  their  boys  and  girls  is 
open  and  aboveboard.  And  now  the  real  work  of 
Christian  nurture  begins.  The  start  has  been  made, 
the  entering  wedge  has  been  driven,  the  door  has 
been  opened  for  the  admission  of  the  Spirit,  and  now 
comes  the  pastoral  training  and  all  the  many  good 
influences  which  an  active  church  can  throw  around 
its  children.  Now  comes  in  the  opportunity  for  the 
Young  People's  Society  to  set  these  young  Chris- 
tians at  work,  and  fit  them  for  future  usefulness. 
Now  may  properly  be  formed  a  church-membership 
class  for  these  lambs,  in  which  they  shall  be  in- 
structed as  to  the  requirements  and  duties  of  the 
church,  and  from  which,  in  due  time,  they  shall  be 
graduated  into  the  church  of  God. 

We  make  these  suggestions  because  in  practice 
this  plan  has  been  found  to  work  admirably.  Doubt- 
less there  are  many  modifications  and  improvements 
which  each  pastor,  in  his  practical  application  of  it, 
can  suggest  ;  but  is  not  the  Sunday-school  prayer 
meeting  one  method  of  leading  the  boys  and  girls, 
the  hope  of  the  church  in  years  to  come,  to  take  the 
first  step  ? 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  a  Sunday-school  prayer 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN -ENDEAVOR.  85 

meeting  is  the  only  door  of  entrance  to  the  Young 
People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  It  is  only 
one  way  to  begin.  Doubtless  it  may  often  be  best  to 
establish  such  a  society  without  waiting  for  or  striving 
for  the  impetus  of  an  increased  religious  interest. 

The  very  fact  that  such  an  organization  is  estab- 
lished, and  that  it  brings  each  young  person  face  to 
face  with  the  question,  *' Am  I  a  Christian  ? "  is  often 
of  itself  enough  to  awaken  new  interest  in  religious 
things.  In  many  instances  we  have  known  the  ques- 
tion, "Will  you  join  our  society  as  an  active  mem- 
ber, that  is,  as  a  professed  Christian.?"  to  be  the 
turning  point  in  a  young  soul's  experience.  He  has 
been  wavering  hitherto,  perhaps,  not  willing  to  avow 
himself  an  unbeliever  or  an  enemy  of  Christ,  by  any 
means,  but  hardly  daring  to  be  counted  among  Christ's 
friends.  He  would  not  think  of  joining  the  church. 
No  one  would  urge  him  to  take  that  step  yet.  But 
here  is  his  opportunity.  "  Will  you  become  an  active 
member  of  our  society.?"  says  one  of  his  young 
friends.  He  is  brought  face  to  face  with  a  question 
which  must  be  decided  one  way  or  the  other,  a'nd  this 
fact  will  often  be  enough  to  lead  the  religiously  in- 
clined to  decide  forever  for  the  right. 

"  Will  this  society  be  sufficient  to  fit  all  young 
people  who  join  it  for  church  membership,  without 
any  other  means  of   training.?" 

We  should  think  not.  Careful  instruction  should 
go  with  this  means  of  Christian  nurture.  The  Chris- 
tian life  must  be  explained,  its  duties  enforced,  the 
nature  and  object  of  the  church  taught,  the  creed  of 


86  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THg    CHURCH. 

the  church  inculcaled  ;  and  this  can  hardly  be  done 
in  such  meetings  as  this  society  contemplates. 

These  meetings  are  meant  to  insure  the  constant 
reconsecration  and  to  promote  the  heart  devotion  of 
the  young  Christians.  The  instruction  for  the  head, 
as  to  the  technicalities  of  theology  and  Christian  liv- 
ing, should  be  given  in  some  other  way  ;  and  we  know 
of  no  better  way  than  to  form  a  pastor's  catechetical 
class.  Such  a  class,  carried  on  at  least  for  a  few 
months  of  each  year,  will  greatly  help  the  work  of 
the  society,  and  will  largely  tend  to  the  rooting  and 
grounding  of  the  young  Christians  in  the  faith. 

Another  question  which  often  arises  in  some  form 
is,  "  After  all,  is  it  not  best  for  the  pastor  to  remain 
away  from  the  meetings  of  young  people,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  less  embarrassed  ?  "  We  should  an- 
swer this  with  a  very  emphatic  No.  No  pastor 
has  any  business  to  be  so  out  of  sympathy  with  his 
young  people  that  his  presence  at  their  meetings 
shall  embarrass  them.  If  he  must  be  absent  from  any 
meeting,  let  it  not  be  from  the  young  people's  meet- 
ing. If  he  feels  that  his  presence  will  make  this 
meeting  less  free,  then,  by  all, means,  should  he  go  to 
it,  until  he  becomes  so  familiar  with  his  boys  and 
girls,  and  they  with  him,  that  they  shall  regard  him 
as  one  of  themselves,  or  rather  as  an  elder  brother, 
who  will  lead  them  around  all  pitfalls  and  over  all 
rough  places.  As  we  have  somewhere  said  before, 
it  does  not  seem  best  to  us  that  the  pastor  should 
lead  these  meetings,  but  he  should  be  present  as  one 
of  the  young  people  at  heart,  however  gray  his  locks 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  8/ 

may  be,  and  he  will  thus  learn,  as  he  can  learn  in  no 
other  way,  how  the  lambs  of  his  flock  are  prospering, 
and  what  peculiarities  of  feeding  and  folding  each 
one  needs. 

The  great  danger  that  we  fear  for  the  success  of 
these  societies  is  that  they  may  be  left  too  much  to 
manage  themselves.  Many  will  doubtless  be  started 
which  will  soon  die  out,  simply  through  lack  of  inter- 
est, or  organizing  ability,  or  hard  work,  on  the  part  of 
the  pastor  and  a  few  older  Christians.  This  method 
is  no  labor-saving  contrivance.  To  keep  it  up  to  the 
right  standard  will  doubtless  involve  a  large  amount 
of  personal  work  and  oversight  and  thought  on  the 
pastor's  part,  and  it  will  add  to  his  burdens  very  consid- 
erably. We  only  claim  that  this  is  a  method  for  mak- 
ing the  work  of  the  earnest,  faithful  pastor  tell  more 
effectively  upon  his  young  people.  This  is  a  fulcrum 
by  means  of  which,  if  sufficient  prayerful  energy  is 
put  forth,  the  whole  spiritual  plane  of  the  young  peo- 
ple may  be  raised. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor is  meant  to  be  a  very  flexible  organization. 
Each  pastor  can  mould  it  according  to  tlie  needs  of  his 
particular  flock.  It  can  embrace  within  its  scope  a 
great  many  departments  of  Christian  effort. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  the  constitution  provis- 
ion is  made  for  a  Missionary  Committee,  a  Sunday- 
School  Committee,  a  Relief  Committee,  and  a  Flower 
Committee,  besides  the  other  committees  whose 
duties  have  already  been  enlarged  upon.  We  need 
not  dwell  at  any  great  length  upon  the  work  of  these 


88       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

committees,  for  their  duties  are  fully  specified  in  the 
constitution.  Every  one  of  them  is  designed  to  meet 
a  real  need,  and  every  one  adds  to  the  work  and 
responsibilities  which  the  young  people  may  assume. 
For  instance,  take  the  work  of  the  Missionary  Com- 
mit|.ee.  No  church  is  doing  what  it  should  until  it 
gives  of  its  money  and  its  sympathy  and  its  prayers 
to  carry  the  gospel  to  those  who  have  it  not.  Where 
can  the  true  missionary  spirit  be  better  inculcated 
than  in  such  a  society  ?  For  not  only  can  attention 
be  directed  to  missionary  topics  in  various  ways,  but 
the  plan  of  systematic  giving  can  be  introduced,  and 
every  boy  or  girl  may  have  the  chance  of  devoting 
something,  if  it  is  only  one  cent  a  month,  to  mis- 
sionary work.  This  plan  has  already  been  adopted 
in  at  least  one  society,  and  has  been  found  to  work 
admirably,  and  to  considerably  increase  the  benevo- 
lent contributions  of  the  church.  What  better  oppor- 
tunity of  raising  up  a  new  generation  of  systematic 
givers  can  be  afforded  ?  Lessons  in  practical  philan- 
thropy at  home  can  also  be  afforded,  for  the  Relief 
Committee  can  bring  any  case  of  sickness  or  want 
to  the  notice  of  the  others,  and  practical  measures 
can  be  taken  to  furnish  help  when  needed.  In  fact, 
any  Christian  work,  from  the  furnishing  of  a  basket 
of  flowers  for  the  pulpit  to  the  support  of  a  mission- 
ary in  Africa,  may  come  within  the  province  of  this 
society,  for,  where  this  agency  exists,  there  will 
always  be  a  compact  and  Organized  band  of  young 
people  to  whom,  if  they  are  properly  guided,  such 
work  may  be  intrusted  with  incalculable  benefit  to 
themselves  and  others. 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR.  89 

It  is  too  soon,  as  yet,  with  modesty,  to  say  much  of 
good  results  which  have  been  accomplished  by  this 
organization,  though  very  many  pleasant  things  have 
come  to  our  ears.  We  are  only  girding  on  the  har- 
ness, and  we  boast  not  ourselves  as  he  that  putteth 
it  off.  There  are  no  means  of  making  an  accurate 
enumeration,  but  there  must  now  be  several  hundred 
societies  calfed  by  the  same  name,  and  with  the  same 
general  constitution,  scattered  all  over  the  country, 
and  in  nearly  all  denominations. 

We  should  like  to  give  in  detail  scores  of  letters 
we  have  received,  so  full  are  they  of  good  cheer  and 
enthusiasm,  thankfulness  for  past  blessings,  and  hope- 
ful zeal  for  the  future.  Many  report  numerous  con- 
versions and  large  accessions  to  the  churches  with 
which  they  are  connected. 

Others  report  quickened  interest  among  the  young 
Christians  already  connected  with  the  church.  Others, 
still,  tell  of  the  increasing  confidence  of  older  church 
members  in  youthful  piety. 

Several  churches  where  this  plan  has  been  adopted, 
which  had  before  received  no  additions  for  years, 
have  of  late  received  very  considerable  accessions 
to  their  working  forces  from  among  the  young.  A 
conference  of  these  societies  has  been  held  in  Port- 
land, and  a  permanent  organization  effected.  This 
conference  has  no  ambitious  designs,  but  simply 
hopes  to  bring  the  representatives  of  the  different 
societies  in  the  same  vicinity  together  once  a  year, 
to  talk  over  affairs  of  mutual  interest,  and  to  enable 
the  young  people,  by  means  of  circular  letters  and 


90  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

in  Other  ways,  to  make  helpful  suggestions  one  to 
another,  in  regard  to  methods  of  work,  proved  useful 
by  experience. 

While  preparing  this  little  book  we  have  been 
pursued  by  a  fear  of  seeming  to  assume  more  knowl- 
edge upon  this  subject  of  Christian  nurture  than  our 
brethren,  or  of  seeming  to  ride  a  hobby  in  advocating 
the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  We  wish  to  dis- 
claim any  such  intentions.  We  believe  that  this  is 
one  step  in  the  right  direction.  We  would  claim 
nothing  more.  There  is  a  chance  for  indefinite  en- 
largement and  extension  of  the  plan.  There  is  a 
chance  for  the  exercise  of  different  gifts,  and  for  the 
play  of  peculiarities  of  disposition  and  training.  Cir- 
cumstances and  surroundings  will  modify  the  plans 
suggested,  and  will  make  each  organization  different 
in  some  respect  from  every  other. 

The  details  of  organization  may  vary  indefinitely, 
but  with  the  two  essentials — weekly  recommitment 
on  the  part  of  all  the  young  disciples  to  their  Master, 
and  constant  watchfulness  and  oversight  on  the  part 
of  the  pastor  and  older  Christians  —  no  such  society 
can  wholly  fail  of  accomplishing  good. 

We  pray  and  hope  for  the  day  when  some  special 
agency  for  Christian  nurture  shall  be  established  in 
every  church,  so  that  our  earthly  Jerusalem  may  be 
full  of  boys  and  girls.  We  hope  and  pray  and  labor 
that  the  children  of  the  coming  generation  may  be 
trained  by  the  c/ncrch,  for  the  church,  in  the  church. 


APPENDIX.  91 


APPENDIX. 

Children  and  Public  Worship.  —  The  Veneration  of  the  Ancient 
Jews  for  their  Temple.  —  The  Statistics  about  Church- 
going. —  Why  are  not  the  Children  in  the  Pews?  —  Testi- 
mony of  Representative  Christian  Men  of  Portland  concern- 
ing early  Church-going.  —  What  this  Testimony  teaches. 

To  win  Boys  and  Girls  to  Public  Worship,  —  First,  Understand 
them.  Second,  Be  manly.  Third,  Present  the  Youth's  Side 
'of  Truth.  Fourth,  Give  a  new  Bent  to  much  of  the  Home 
Life.  Fifth,  Modify  many  prevailing  Theories  regarding  the 
Conversion  of  Children.  Sixth,  Continue  the  Revision  of 
much  Sunday-School  Effort.  Seventh,  Appreciate  the  joy- 
ous Hopefulness  of  a  Church  full  of  Children. 

The  question  of  the  attendance  of  children  upon 
public  worship  is  such  a  vital  question,  and  is  so 
nearly  related  to  the  subject  of  the  preceding  pages, 
that  we  feel  moved  to  devote  a  chapter  to  its  con- 
sideration. The  following  facts  and  deductions,  first 
presented  by  the  author  in  a  sermon  to  his  own 
people,  were  published  in  the  Christian  Union,  were 
thence  copied  into  other  religious  papers,  and  are 
reproduced  in  the  hope  that  tne  facts  here  collated, 
gathered  from  the  citizens  of  one  community,  may 
suggest  to  the  people  of  many  communities  souie  of 
the  causes  and  some  of  the  remedies  for  the  falling 
off  in  attendance  upon  public  worship. 


92  THE    CHILDREN    AND    THE    CHURCH. 

We  have  preserved  the  homiletical  and  personal 
form  in  which  these  thoughts  were  first  cast,  as  more 
direct  and  pointed. 

"  Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the 
house  of  the  God  of  Jacob  ;  and  he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways, 
and  we  will  walk  in  his  paths :  for  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the 
law,  and  the  word  of  God  from  Jerusalem."  — Is.  ii.  3. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  some  little  idea  of  the  en- 
thusiastic love  and  veneration  with  which  the  Jews 
regarded  their  ancient  Temple.  It  was  the  centre  of 
the  world  to  them.  There  was  no  glory,  no  beauty^ 
no  grace,  which  did  not  dwell  within  its  sacred 'walls. 
It  was  an  honor  to  the  highest  dignitary  in  all  the 
land  to  step  even  within  its  outer  vestibule  ;  while 
within  the  mysteries  of  its  holy  of  holies,  not  the 
proudest  or  mightiest  monarch  that  the  world  ever 
saw  was  allowed  to  set  foot.  David  himself  declared, 
when  in  the  zenith  of  his  power,  that  he,  the  king^ 
coveted  the  place  of  a  door-keeper  in  the  house  of 
God.  "I  was  glad,"  he  said  again,  —  and  notice  what 
an  apparently  trivial  thing,  according  to  our  modern 
notions,  he  was  glad  about,  —  "I  was  glad,"  not  when 
I  conquered  my  enemies  and  won  a  great  battle  or 
was  firmly  established  upon  my  throne,  but  when,  with 
the  band  of  pilgrims  I  approached  Jerusalem  and  the 
Temple  ;  "  when  they  said  unto  me.  Let  us  go  into  the 
house  of  the  Lord,"  —  let  us  go  to  church. 

Times  surely  have  wonderfully,  not  to  say  wofully 
changed  since  David  sang  and  Isaiah  prophesied. 
Now  about  the  last  thing  that  most  men  rejoice  in  is 


APPENDIX.  93 

an  invitation  to  go  to  church.  When  our  legislators 
come  together  at  Washington,  there  are  a  thousand 
applicants  for  door-keeper  of  Congress,  but  I  have 
never  heard  any  very  ardent  aspiration  for  the  office 
of  door-keeper  in  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

Numerous  counts  and  estimates  in  which  the 
churches  have  indulged  of  late  seem  to  show  conclu- 
sively that  the  masses  do  not  go  to  church.  The  re- 
porter has  been  through  the  Chicago  and  Cincinnati 
churches  and  those  of  other  large  cities,  pencil  and 
note-book  in  hand,  and  has  found  but  very  few  of 
them  more  than  one  quarter  or  one  third  full,  and  has 
estimated,  if  I  remember  rightly,  that  less  than  one 
sixth  of  the  Protestant  population  of  those  cities  are 
regular  church-goers.  In  New  England  and  in  the 
country,  doubtless,  the  proportion  of  church-goers  to 
the  population  is  larger ;  but  even  here  the  regular 
attendants  on  the  house  of  God  are  often  in  a  pitiable 
minority. 

This  is  not  a  local  evil.  Our  friends  across  the 
sea  are  agitating  the  same  question,  and  attempting 
to  stem  the  same  evil.  The  statistics  of  seventy 
cities  and  districts. of  England  and  Wales,  in  which 
the  aggregate  population  is  over  three  and  one  half 
millions,  show  that  the  actual  church-goers  number 
only  a  trifle  over  a  million,  —  considerably  less  than 
one  third  of  the  population  ;  and  even  this  proves  to  be 
a  higher  ratio  than  was  expected.  Take  the  country 
through,  the  sitting  accommodation  of  the  churches 
in  the  Old  Country  is  not  equal  to  the  wants  of  one 
half  the  people,  and  less  than  one  half  of  that  is  used. 


94        THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

So  notorious  have  these  facts  become,  the  world 
over,  that  some  point  is  given  to  the  exaggerated  sar- 
casm of  that  new  light  in  the  infidel  world,  Mr.  Miln, 
who,  having  tried  many  churches  in  turn,  now  seeks 
to  decry  all  churches.  I  say  some  point  is  given  to 
his  strained  sarcasm  when  he  says,  "  Those  only  attend 
prayer  meetings  who  wish  to  be  alone." 

"We  know,"  he  continues,  "that  the  churches, 
which  should  be  thronged  with  eager  worshippers, 
are  left  half  empty,  unless  indeed  some  unusual  per- 
son or  cause  serves  to  evoke  a  spasm  of  curiosity. 
This  apathy  is  not  confined  to  any  one  circle,  individ- 
ual, sect,  or  church.  The  Presbyterians  feel  it,  and 
have  recently  sent  a  commission  through  the  churches 
of  that  sect  to  ascertain  and  remove,  if  possible,  its 
cause.  The  Methodists  feel  it,  and  are  found  discuss- 
ing ways  and  means  for  its  removal.  The  Congre- 
gationalists  confess  the  same  lethargy.  As  to  the 
Episcopalians,  so  poorly  are  their  churches  attended, 
that  only  the  most  ingenious  usher  can  spread  a  con- 
gregation out  to  look  a  respectable  audience." 

But  it  is  more  profitable  for  us  to  look  still  nearer 
home.  A  little  more  than  a  year  ago,  a  careful  and 
accurate  count  was  made  by  one  of  our  citizens,  in  all 
the  churches  of  Portland,  and  he  found  that  whereas 
there  were  in  all  our  Protestant  churches  sittings  for 
16,175  of  our  25.000  Protestants,  only  8,021  people,  all 
told,  were  found  at  the  preaching  services  throughout 
the  entire  day,  or  in  the  proportion  of  less  than  one 
in  three  of  our  Protestant  population.  But  the  most 
startling  branch  of  his  statistics  related  to  the  nam- 


^     APPENDIX.  95 

ber  of  children  in  these  churches.  In  all  these  twenty- 
seven  churches  there  were  only  736  children  under 
fourteen  years  of  age.  That,  I  say,  is  the  most  start- 
ling and  significant  part  of  these  statistics,  — that  out 
of  all  the  thousands  of  Protestant  children  who  throng 
our  public  schools  every  day  of  the  week,  only  736 
were  found  with  their  parents  in  the  pews  on  Sunday. 

To  bring  the  matter  still  nearer  home :  In  the 
nine  Congregational  churches  of  our  city  there  were 
present  that  day  1,789  people  all  told,  an  average  of  a 
trifle  less  than 200  to  each  church;  while  of  this  num- 
ber only  248  were  children  under  fourteen  years  of 
age,  an  average  of  only  27  to  each  church. 

In  the  Sabbath  schools  of  these  nine  Congrega- 
tional churches  are  2,100  persons,  and  presumably  a 
very  large  proportion  of  them  are  children.  Then 
only  about  one  seventh  of  the  number  of  children  in 
the  Sabbath  schools  of  these  churches  attended  the 
church  service. 

Now,  to  what  do  these  statistics  point  us  ?  Just  this, 
I  think :  that  right  here  do  we  find  the  principal  and 
most  alarming  cause  of  empty  pews  and  indifference 
to  church-going.  The  children  are  not  required  to 
go  with  their  parents.  Their  religious  training  is 
relegated  more  and  more  to  the  Sunday  school. 
The  great  family  pews,  filled  with  six,  eight,  or  a 
dozen  children,  from  the  little  fair-haired  tot  of  two 
years  up  to  the  manly  elder  brother  or  womanly 
elder  sister,  are  no  longer  found  ;  partly  because  such 
families  do  not  exist  in  large  numbers  (more  is  the 
pity  for  the  welfare  of  our  land),  and  partly  because, 


96  THE   CHILDREN    AND    THE   CHURCH. 

while  the  parents  may  be  at  church  to  save  the 
respectability  of  the  family,  the  chilren  are  anywhere 
and  everywhere  else.  They  are  out  riding  or  walking, 
or  are  sleeping  at  home,  or  reading  a  flash  newspaper 
or  an  exciting  novel. 

We  in  this  generation  are  just  beginning  to  feel  the 
evil  effects  of  this  loose  family  government  and  home 
training  in  regard  to  church-going.  The  generation 
immediately  preceding  ours  slackened  the  reins,  and 
the  empty  pews  in  many  churches  show  that  the 
young  colts  have  run  away.  What  shall  we  expect 
in  the  generation  which  is  to  follow  ours,  when,  as  in 
many  cases,  the  reins  have  been  thrown  entirely  away 
and  the  colts  allowed  to  roam  at  their  own  sweet 
will  ?  This,  I  say,  —  and  I  do  not  think  the  position 
can  be  successfully  combated,  —  is  the  great  cause  of 
the  lack  of  attendance  at  our  churches ;  and  this 
cause,  unless  the  evil  is  checked,  will  decimate  our 
churches  in  the  future. 

I  am  fully  aware  that  many  other  causes  have  en- 
tered in  to  thin  the  congregations ;  but  what  I  say 
is  that  this  is  the  predominant  and  overwhelmingly 
the  most  significant  cause  of  this  change  in  the 
habits  of  our  people. 

In  order  to  test  this  influence  of  the  early  habits 
of  church-going  upon  the  future  lives  of  Christian 
men  as  fully  as  I  could  in  our  own  city  of  Portland, 
I  have,  within  the  past  fortnight,  sent  out  about  fifty 
postal  cards  to  various  representative.  Christian  men 
in  our  different  churches.  The  card  I  sent  read  as 
follows  :  — 


APPENDIX.  97 

^^Dear  Sir^  — Desiring  to  learn  if  the  present  decline  in  church 
attendance,  so  often  complained  of,  is  a  reaction  from  Puritani- 
cal strictness  in  the  past,  as  is  frequently  alleged,  or  is  due  to 
laxity  of  parental  authority,  will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  tell  me,  — 

"  I.  Whether  in  early  life  you  were  required  to  attend  church 
regularly  ? 

"  2.  If  so,  did  such  compulsion  render  church-going  irksome 
or  repulsive  to  you  ? 

"Any  other  facts  from  personal  experience,  or  from  that  of 
others  bearing  upon  this  point,  will  be  gratefully  received.  I 
have  addressed  this  same  inquiry  to  a  number  of  the  Christian 
men  of  Portland,  hoping  that  by  the  answers  some  light  may  be 
thrown  on  this  irr^ortant  subject." 

Of  course  I  was  able  to  get  the  opinions  of  only  a 
small  number  of  the  representative  Christian  men  of 
the  city ;  there  were  hundreds  of  others  who  could 
just  as  well  have  answered  these  questions,  but,  in 
order  to  reach  a  definite  class,  I  sent  my  inquiries 
to  the  deacons  of  the  Congregational  and  Baptist 
churches,  and  to  a  few  of  the  prominent  men  in  other 
churches  whose  names  were  given  me.  For  the 
most  part  I  went  entirely  outside  of  my  own  church, 
and  did  not  ask  those  men  whose  early  training  I 
was  acquainted  with  ;  so  that,  so  far  as  it  went,  this 
was  a  fair  and  impartial  test.  You  will  notice  also, 
from  the  wording  of  my  questions,  that  I  attempted 
not  to  show  any  bias  of  opinion  in  my  queries. 

Of  these  fifty  men,  more  or  less,  of  whom  I  have 
asked  these  questions,  forty-five  kindly  responded. 
Of  these  forty-five  who  replied,  four  were  Episco- 
palians, five  were  Methodists,  three  were  Free  Bap- 
tists,   eight    were    Baptists,    and    twenty-five    were 

7 


98  THE    CHILDREN    AND    T«E    CHURCH. 

Congregationalists.  Of  these  forty-five  men,  embra- 
cing a  large  proportion  of  the  officers  in  our  churches, 
three  were  not  required  to  go  to  church  when  young, 
and  forty-two  were.  Of  these  three  who  were  not 
required  to  go,  two  went  of  their  own  accord. 
Two  others  of  my  correspondents  make  a  distinction 
between  being  required  to  go  and  being  solemnly  and 
earnestly  urged  to  go ;  that  is,  between  physical  and 
moral  compulsion.  But  that  kind  of  compulsion  came 
within  the  intent  of  my  inquiry.  Where  it  is  the 
regularly  expected  thing  for  children  to  attend  church, 
as  much  as  to  attend  school,  that  is  the  best  kind  of 
compulsion. 

Of  those  forty-five,  then,  from  whom  I  have  re- 
ceived answers,  forty-two  were  required  to  go  to 
church  as  children ;  two  were  not  required  to  go,  but 
nevertheless  went. 

Forty-two  did  not  consider  church-going  irksome 
or  repulsive ;  one  did  consider  it  irksome,  but  not 
repulsive  ;  one  considered  it  irksome,  but  not  because 
of  the  compulsion ;  and  one  did  not  go,  and  so  of  course 
did  not  find  church  attendance  repulsive. 

So  you  see  the  testimony  of  these  forty-five  repre- 
sentative Christian  men,  obtained  without  collusion 
or  knowledge  as  to  the  end  to  which  their  testimony 
would  be  put,  almost  with  unanimity  tells  that  their 
early  training  required  church  attendance,  and  that 
such  attendance  did  not  drive  them  away  from 
church,  even  for  a  time. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  what  becomes  of  the  thread- 
bare and  sickly  plea,  "  I   am  afraid  to  require   any 


APPENDIX. 


99 


religious  duties  of  my  child  lest  he  acquire  a  distaste 
for  them  "  ?  Just  exactly  as  sensible  is  the  plea,  "  I 
am  afraid  to  require  any  ablutions  of  my  child  lest 
he  acquire  a  distaste  for  a  clean  face." 

Now,  what  do  these  statistics  show  us  in  regard  to 
the  probable  effect  of  church-going  upon  the  boys 
and  girls  of  to-day  ? 

So  far  as  this  testimony  goes,  we  learn  that  the 
chances  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  present  genera- 
tion becoming  eminent  and  useful  Christians  are  as 
forty-four  to  one  in  favor  of  those  who  attend  church, 
as  forty-two  to  three  in  favor  of  those  who  are  required 
to  attend  ;  and  the  chances  that  they  will  be  repelled 
and  disgusted  by  such  requirement  are  only  as  one 
to  forty-five. 

Or,  to  put  the  matter  in  still  another  way,  so  far 
as  these  testimonies  prove  anything,  they  prove  that 
of  those  who  become  particularly  eminent  and  useful 
in  the  church  in  mature  life,  nearly  ninety-eight  per 
cent  went  to  church  regularly  as  boys,  that  ninety-four 
per  cent  of  them  were  required  to  go,  and  that  ninety- 
six  per  cent  were  not  repelled  from  church,  even  for 
a  little  while,  by  such  requirement. 

That  is  what  these  answers  teach.  Perhaps  some 
one  will  say,  *'You  have  too  few  facts  to  generalize 
upon";  but  people  and  cities  are  much  the  same 
everywhere.  Portland  is  probably  neither  much 
better  nor  worse  than  other  cities  of  its  size,  and, 
beyond  a  doubt,  what  is  true  here  is  true  elsewhere. 
I  wish  I  could  read  you  some  letters  which  I  have 
received,  for  many  of  my  correspondents  have  kindly 


lOO       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

answered  at  considerable  length  and  have  given  me 
suggestions  which  I  would  be  glad  to  lay  before  you, 
if  time  permitted. 

Some  of  these  letters  are  pathetic  in  their  venera- 
tion of  the  loved  parents  by  whose  side  these  gray- 
haired  men  once  walked  to  the  house  of  God.  One 
says,  *'My  first  recollection  of  church-going  was 
with  my  mother  of  blessed  memory,  when  I  was  from 
six  to  eight  years  of  age,  which  was  always  a  pleasure 
and  delight."  Another  says,  "At  the  age  of  four,  my 
good  Christian  mother  took  me  by  the  hand  and  led 
me  to  the  old  Federal  Street  Church.  Did  I  ever  con- 
sider church-going  repulsive  }  No  ;  most  emphatical- 
ly. I  have  always  felt  how  great  a  debt  of  gratitude 
I  owe  my  parents  for  their  early  Christian  training." 
Another  who  was  required  to  go  to  church  three 
times  a  day  says,  "  Being  required  to  attend  regu- 
larly, I  acquired  thereby  an  appetite  for  it,  that 
nothing  else  save  eternal  attendance  in  the  great  con- 
gregation of  the  blessed,  up  yonder,  can  ever  satisfy." 
Two  more  say,  that  though  trained  up  with  all  the  rigor 
of  Scotch  Presbyterianism,  church-going  soon  became 
and  always  continued  a  pleasure  to  them.  Another 
tells  me,  "  If  there  is  anything  I  thank  my  parents 
for,  it  is  that  they  made  this  requirement  of  me." 

Another  says,  *'  I  no  more  expected  to  stay  away 
from  church  services  than  from  school.  The  haj^it 
thus  formed  in  my  early  home  I  found  so  strong  when 
I  came  to  the  city  that  I  could  not  stay  away  from 
church."  Another  writes,  "The  habit  of  church- 
going  became  so  fixed  that,  apart  from  religious  prin- 


APPENDIX.  101 

ciple,  I  could  never  connect  the  idea  of  anything 
pleasant  with  Sabbath  breaking."  Another  tells  us 
that  "  he  early  learned  that  God  required  him  to  go  to 
His  house,  and  that  He  required  his  parents  to  have 
him  go,  thus  the  reasonableness  of  the  requirement 
was  seen  and  felt."  Still  another  says,  "  Church- 
going  became  a  fixed  habit  and  a  necessity  as  much 
as  daily  meals." 

There  is  a  singular  uniformity  in  the  testimony 
upon  this  point.  ''We  never  thought  of  going  any- 
where else  than  to  church  on  Sunday,"  says  one. 
*'  I  never  thought  there  was  any  other  way  to  do," 
says  a  second.  "  No  compulsion  was  necessary  ;  we 
expected  always  to  go,"  says  a  third.  *'  Was  it 
irksome.-*  I  never  thought  of  such  a  thing,"  says  a 
fourth. 

Most  of  these  men,  when  children,  never  thought 
whether  they  were  compelled  to  go  to  church  or  not; 
it  was  so  much  the  regular  order  of  the  family,  that 
any  other  course  would  have  seemed  unreasonable 
and  wrong  to  them.  A  very  prominent  business 
man  of  another  communion  than  ours  writes,  "  I 
should  as  soon  have  expected  my  parents  to  say  that 
I  might  stay  at  home  from  school  as  a  reward,  as  that 
I  might  remain  at  home  from  meetings  as  a  similar 
agreeable  and  pleasant  thing."  Ah,  that  of  which 
these  letters  so  often  speak  is  the  best  kind  of  com- 
pulsion, not  the  iron  hand  dragging  the  child  to 
church,  but  the  sweet  expectation,  the  natural  order 
of  the  household,  the  unquestioned  habit  of  the  fam- 
ily, the  propriety  of  which  was  never  doubted.     Where 


I02       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

such  expectation  and  habit  are  the  order  of  the  house- 
hold and  the  father  and  mother  lead  the  way,  saying 
"  Come,"  and  not  **  Go,"  there  is  never  a  need  of 
sterner  compulsion.  That  is  the  way  in  which  the 
vast  majority  of  the  Christian  men  of  Portland,  and 
presumably  of  all  similar  cities,  were  trained  up  for 
the  responsible  places  they  fill.  If  there  are  to  be 
such  men  in  the  future  they  will  be  trained  in  the 
same  way. 

In  this  connection  we  are  glad  to  present  to  our 
readers  the  opinions  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Merrill,  of  St. 
Louis,  who  has  been  successful,  as  few  ministers 
have  been,  in  securing  an  interested  hearing  from 
the  boys  and  girls  of  his  congregation,  and  who  has 
earned  the  right  to  speak  with  authority  upon  boys 
and  girls  at  public  worship.     He  writes  :  — 

"  To  secure  the  public  worship  that  will  bless  our 
boys  and  girls  we  need  :  — 

^'First.  To  understand  boy  and  girl  life.  Some  one 
has  said  that  among  the  greatest  discoveries  of  our 
inventive  age  the  greatest  has  been  the  discovery  of 
children.  A  man  does  not  need  to  be  forty  years 
old  to  recall  the  time  when  childhood  and  youth 
were  practically  ignored  by  authors  and  artists, 
preachers  and  poets.  Boys  and  girls  are  a  variable 
quantity.  To  understand  a  boy  of  ten  years  is  not 
to  know  him  at  fourteen,  to  know  a  lass  at  eight  is 
not  to  know  her  at  thirteen.  The  mental  and  moral 
change,  undergone  between  eleven  and  fifteen,  is  no 
less  marked  than  the  physical  change  during  the 
same  period.     Many  a  q^uiet  lad  enters  this  period 


APPENDIX.  103 

bashful  and  comes  out  boisterous,  or  changes  from  a 
noisy  boy  to  a  sedate  youth.  Many  a  miss  changes 
in  these  few  months  from  a  coy  maiden  to  a  flirt,  or 
from  a  rude  girl  to  a  matronly  one.  Young  folks  do 
not  understand  themselves  at  this  time  of  life,  and 
are  usually  very  sure  that  no  one  else  understands 
them. 

"  He  who  can  help  humanity  over  the  years  from 
seven  to  seventeen  can  guide  the  race.  He  must  not 
fail,  as  a  help  to  secure  this  result,  to  remember  his 
own  boyhood  or  girlhood.  "  Only  that  man  in  whom 
the  child  heart  hath  not  died  can  successfully  teach 
the  young."  A  child  heart  need  not  die,  for,  as  the 
prophet  says,  "Behold  I  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing 
and  her  people  a  joy  :  for  the  child  shall  die  a  hun- 
dred years  old." 

"  Seco7id.  Another  prerequisite  in  the  solution  of 
our  problem  is  that  he  who  would  win  boys  and  girls 
must  be  manly.  A  boy  who  cannot  tell  his  letters 
can  read  men.  There  is  something  within  a  health- 
ful boy  or  girl  which  makes  them  attracted  by  strength 
and  intrepidity.  They  would  rather  be  driven  than 
coaxed,  but  prefer  above  either  of  these  to  be  strongly 
led. 

"A  nice  young  man,  with  a  sweet  lisp,  hair  parted  in 
the  middle  and  a  waxed  mustache,  is  more  in  his  place 
in  a  dancing-school  than  in  the  pulpit,  with  the  boys 
and  girls  looking  him  throu£:h.  A  fussy  old  man, 
who  is  never  so  happy  as  when  he  is  toasting  his 
embroidered  slipper  over  the  grate,  can  do  more  at 
sewing  societies  than  among  the  rising  generation. 


104       '^^^    CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

It  was  the  rough  and  ready  Peter  who  was  bidden, 
*Feed  my  lambs.' 

**  Tliird.  To  win  boys  and  girls  to  public  worship 
one  must  present  the  youth's  side  of  truth.  Boys  and 
girls  need  the  same  truths  that  their  seniors  do  ;  no 
greater  mistake  is  made  than  by  those  who  think 
that  talk  to  children  should  be  childish.  Men  have 
fired  off  their  old  smooth  bores,  with  a  ponderous 
polysyllabic  sound,  until  the  short,  sharp  crack  of  a 
monosyllabic  rifle  seems  to  them  no  gun  at  all. 

"  It  is  astonishing  how  few  thoughts  there  are,  worth 
the  thinking,  which  cannot  be  put  in  such  a  way 
that  a  child  can  have  thoughts  concerning  them. 
It  is  humiliating  to  take  some  of  our  finely  rounded 
periods  and  see  how  little  there  is  left  of  them  when 
the  wind  is  let  out  of  them.  The  thoughts  which 
Jesus  thought  more  than  any  man  of  history,  think- 
ing and  speaking  as  he  did,  are  best  expressed  in 
words  and  sentences  such  as  a  quick-minded  child 
would  use. 

"As  a  rule,  the  thoughts  which  if  properly  expressed 
are  beyond  the  apprehension,  not  to  say  comprehen- 
sion, of  bright  boys  and  girls  are  illy  adapted  to  help 
the  adults  of  our  congregations.  Longfellow  tells 
the  truth  thus  :  — 

'Friendly  the  teacher  stood,  like  an  angel  of  light  there  among 

them, 
And  to  the  children  explained  the  holy,  the  highest,  in  few 

words, 
Thorough,  yet  simple  and  clear,for  sublimity  always  is  simple, 
Both  in  sermon  and  song,  a  child  can  seize  on  its  meaning.' 


APPENDIX.  105 

"We  of  the  pulpit  need  to  remember  the  order  to 
our  brave  forefathers  on  Bunker  Hill,  *  Fire  low,' 
Shots  fired  high  have  no  more  powder  or  lead ; 
they  are  vastly  more  valuable  for  noise  than  for  exe- 
cution. 

'' Fotnnh.  To  secure  the  children  at  church  there 
must  be  a  new  bent  to  much  home  life.  Public 
worship  will  rarely  include  the  children  as  habitual 
attendants  so  long  as  it  is  the  prevailing  fashion  for 
parents  to  obey  their  children. 

"There  is  enough  left  of  total  depravity  to  make  it 
safe  to  say  that  if  the  average  child  has  his  own  way, 
attendance  upon  church  will  at  the  best  be  spas- 
modic, perhaps  but  little  more  irregular  than  would 
be  attention  to  music  or  assigned  tasks  of  any  sort ; 
but  enough  so,  in  all  these  matters,  to  make  it  desira- 
ble for  the  superior  will  to  reside  in  one  who,  from  a 
wider  outlook  than  is  possible  for  children,  has  learned 
the  value  of  the  more  serious  matters  of  life  in  the 
formation  of  characte. .  Moreover,  it  is  unworthy  of 
a  parent,  who  ought  to  understand  children,  to  sug- 
gest that  a  child,  able  to  go  to  school  five  or  six 
hours  on  other  days,  is  not  able  to  attend  God's 
house  two  or  three  hours  on  the  Lord's  day.  And, 
provided  parents  have  the  slightest  comprehension 
of  the  worth  of  religious  instruction  in  relation  to  a 
soul  born  for  two  worlds,  there  will  grow  up  in  the 
household  an  irresistible  yet  loving  force  which  will 
lead  the  youth  to  as  little  expect  to  go  without  his 
Sunday  dinner  as  to  stay  away  from  church  and 
Sunday  school. 


I06       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

''Fifth.  To  gain  the  object  before  us  we  shall  need 
to  modify  many  prevailing  theories  in  regard  to  the 
conversion  of  children.  Among  the  evils  connected 
with  modern  religious  efforts  none  is  more  wide- 
spread and  ruinous  than  that  which  ignores  Christian 
nurture.  Boys  and  girls  who  become  Christians 
normally  become  Christians  gradually.  Of  course 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  regeneration,  and  there  is 
a  moment  when  it  takes  place,  but  He  who  knows 
all  about  it,  and  the  only  One  who  does  know  all 
about  it,  says  that  its  movements  are  like  those  of 
the  wind,  whose  sound  we  hear,  whose  effects  we 
perceive,  but  the  manner  of  whose  coming  we  do  not 
and  cannot  tell. 

"  Is  it  not  time  in  this  age  of  the  Christian  church 
to  believe  that  generation  assists  regeneration  ?  To 
regard  a  religious  bent,  that  has  been  handed  down 
from  Grandmother  Eunice  to  Mother  Lois,  and  thence 
to  the  youthful  Timothy,  as  not  only  to  be  possible 
but  to  be  expected.'*  Shall  a  child  be  expected  to 
have  no  better  start  for  the  kingdom  because  his 
father  and  mother  are  children  of  the  King } 

''Sixth.  We  must  continue  the  revision  which  is 
going  on  in  respect  of  our  Sunday  schools.  Had  not 
certain  tendencies  been  arrested,  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  saved  the  church  from  destruc- 
tion at  the  hands  of  an  institution  which  ought  to 
be  and  is  destined  to  be  its  choicest  ally. 

"  The  peril  was  in  affording  the  young  a  kind  of 
religion  which  could  not  satisfy  them  beyond  the 
age  of  youth,  and  at  the  same  time  destroyed  all 


APPENDIX.  107 

relish  for  the  religion  which  meets  the  wants  of 
manhood  and  womanhood.  The  wild  life  of  many 
a  Sunday-school  scholar  comes  to  resent  a  religion 
which  insists  upon  things  being  done  'decently  and 
in  order.'  The  sensational  preaching,  which  is  so 
greatly  relished  to-day,  is  partly  in  consequence  of 
the  mental  imbecility  fostered  in  Sunday  schools, 
destitute  alike  of  discipline  and  scholarship,  in  which 
the  children  were  tickled  by  jingling  songs,  petted 
with  prizes  and  picnics,  fed  upon  books  nauseating 
to  a  healthful  mind,  guided  by  those  whose  whole 
aim  was  to  play  upon  the  feelings  of  those  for  whom 
no  thorough  intellectual  training  or  forceful  character 
getting  was  ever  dreamed. 

*'It  is  a  happy  omen  for  the  generation  coming  on 
that  men  are  learning  not  to  expect  strong  manhood 
and  womanhood  save  as  it  results  from  a  well-disci- 
plined childhood. 

'^Seventh,  To  have  the  boys  and  girls  at  public 
worship  there  must  grow  up  in  our  hearts  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  joyous  hopefulness  of  a  church  full  of 
children.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver 
full  of  them  is  no  truer  of  the  father  of  a  family  than 
it  is  of  a  true  pastor  of  a  church.  'A  Christ-loving 
pastor,'  said  Dr.  Tyng,  'is  a  child-loving  pastor.' 
Hawthorne  remarked,  '  If  I  value  myself  upon  any- 
thing, it  is  in  having  a  smile  that  the  children  love.' 
Dr.  Doddridge  replied  to  those  who  criticised  him  for 
laboring  so  greatly  for  the  youth,  '  I  had  rather  feed 
the  lambs  of  Christ  than  rule  a  kingdom.' 

"  Our  Lord  said,  '  Suffer  the  children  and  forbid 


I08       THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

them  not  to  come  unto  me.'  The  truth  is  that  the 
only  child  religion  in  the  world  is  Christ's  religion, 
and,  thanks  to  the  religion  of  Jesus,  there  are  more 
joyous  young  hearts  beating  on  our  globe  now  than  at 
any  other  hour  the  world  has  seen. 

"  These  young  hearts  will  not  be  young  to-morrow. 
They  are,  amid  appliances  such  as  the  world  never 
afforded  before,  preparing  themselves  to  shape  the 
future  of  the  world. 

"  The  simple  question  before  us  is  a  fairly  tremen- 
dous one,  is  the  church  shaping  this  plastic  force  ^ 

"  God  has  ordained  but  one  way  of  applying  the 
gospel  to  the  minds  of  men.  It  is  by  the  preaching  of 
the  word.  Other  measures  are  allies  of  this,  the  great 
force  to  win  the  world  to  Christ.  Whomsoever, 
therefore,  we  may  neglect  to  bring  under  the  in- 
fluence of  God's  house  and  God's  word,  let  it  not  be 
the  boys  and  girls." 


Date  Due 

Ap  29  'L 

My2    gjf 

^ 

/ 


Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01029  8992 


